S3-compatible object storage on Sealos -- create a bucket and upload your first file through the console.

This is the start-here guide for Object Storage on Sealos.

On this page, you create a bucket, retrieve its credentials, upload your first file, and confirm the upload succeeded -- all through the Sealos console.

By the end, you have a working bucket with one file stored in it and the four credential values you need for any future programmatic access.

What Object Storage Is

Object Storage is the Sealos service for storing and managing unstructured data such as files, images, documents, and backups. It is S3-compatible and built on MinIO, and Sealos manages the underlying infrastructure so you work with buckets and files instead of servers.

At a high level, you use Object Storage to upload files into buckets, download them when you need them, and control who can read or write each bucket through access permissions. Every bucket also exposes endpoints and credentials that work with MinIO-compatible SDKs when you are ready to integrate it into an application.

Create a Bucket

In this section, you create your first bucket and set its access permission. The bucket is the container that holds your files, and its permission level controls who can read or write its contents.

Open the Object Storage app

Sign in to the Sealos console and open the Object Storage app from the application launcher. The app lists any buckets you have already created and provides the entry point for creating a new one.

Create a new bucket

Use the bucket creation action in the app, enter a name for your bucket, and choose private as the access permission. Apply the change to create the bucket. The new bucket then appears in your bucket list.

Object Storage supports three permission levels. Choose private for your first bucket unless you have a specific reason to make it public.

private: only authenticated users can access bucket contents. Recommended for the first bucket and any bucket containing sensitive data.
publicRead: anyone can read objects without authentication; write operations still require credentials. Suitable for content delivery and static website hosting.
publicReadWrite: fully open read and write access. Use with caution; production environments should avoid this level.

Get Your Credentials

In this section, you retrieve the four values needed to access the bucket programmatically. The first upload in this guide uses the console, so you do not paste these values anywhere right now, but having them on hand prepares you for any future SDK or API access.

Select your bucket in the bucket list and use the access key action to open the credential display. A popup shows four values tied to this bucket: the Access Key, the Secret Key, the Internal endpoint, and the External endpoint. Read the values directly from the popup when you need them.

The two endpoints serve different access paths. Pick the one that matches where your client runs.

Internal endpoint: for services running inside Sealos. Traffic stays on the internal network, which gives lower latency and avoids external traffic charges.
External endpoint: for access from outside the Sealos environment, such as a local development machine or a service hosted elsewhere.

Upload Your First File

In this section, you upload a test file into the bucket you just created. The entire flow happens inside the Sealos console, so you do not need any command line tools or SDK setup yet.

Open the bucket

In the Object Storage app, select the bucket you created earlier from the bucket list. The bucket view opens at its root directory, which is where your first file will land.

Upload a file

Use the upload action in the bucket toolbar to open your operating system's file picker. Pick a small test file for your first upload -- a plain text file or a small image under 1 MB works well and keeps the transfer fast. Confirm the selection in the picker to start the upload.

Confirm the upload

Wait for the upload progress to finish. When it completes, the new file appears in the bucket's file list at the current directory.

Verify Your Upload

First success for this guide is defined by two signals inside the console. Check them in order.

File row in the bucket's file list Open the bucket you just uploaded into and confirm a row for your file shows the expected file name, its size, and the upload timestamp.
Object detail view showing an addressable object path Open the file's detail view from that row and confirm the view shows the object's path or URL. This proves the object exists at an addressable location. The bucket is private, so the URL itself is access-controlled; this guide does not ask you to make the bucket public or generate a signed URL.

If both signals are present, the first upload is confirmed.

If the first upload fails

Check these first, in order:

wrong or missing bucket Look here first: confirm the bucket exists in your current workspace and region, and that you opened the bucket you actually uploaded into.
permission denied Look here first: confirm the bucket's permission level is not blocking your session, and that the upload action is available in the current context.
wrong endpoint Matters when you move to SDK or CLI access: the Internal and External endpoints are separate values; pick the one that matches where your client runs.
wrong credentials Matters when you move to SDK or CLI access: re-read the Access Key and Secret Key from the credential popup and confirm the pair was copied exactly.
upload size or file-name issue Look here first: use a small test file and avoid file names with characters the bucket rejects.

What's Next

You now have a working bucket with your first file stored in it and the four credential values ready for any future programmatic access.

Object Storage supports more than the console upload flow. Beyond this guide, you can use MinIO-compatible SDKs to read and write objects from your applications, enable static website hosting for buckets with public read access, and watch resource usage through the built-in monitoring views. These are capabilities to explore once you are comfortable with the console basics, not walkthroughs you need to follow right now.

Object Storage