S3-compatible API

Runpod provides an S3-protocol compatible API for direct access to your network volumes. This allows you to manage files on your network volumes without launching a Pod, reducing cost and operational friction.

Using the S3-compatible API does not affect pricing. Network volumes are billed hourly at $0.07/GB/month for the first 1TB, and $0.05/GB/month for additional storage.

​

Datacenter availability

The S3-compatible API is available for network volumes in select datacenters. Each datacenter has a unique endpoint URL that you’ll use when calling the API:

Create your network volume in a supported datacenter to use the S3-compatible API.

​

Setup and authentication

​

Using the S3-compatible API

You can use the S3-compatible API to interact with your Runpod network volumes using standard S3 tools:

• AWS s3 CLI.
• AWS s3api CLI.
• The Boto3 Python library.

Core AWS CLI operations such as ls, cp, mv, rm, and sync function as expected.

​

s3 CLI examples

When using aws s3 commands, you must pass in the endpoint URL for your network volume using the --endpoint-url flag.

​

List objects

Use ls to list objects in a network volume directory:

aws s3 ls --region [DATACENTER] \
    --endpoint-url https://s3api-[DATACENTER].runpod.io/ \ 
    s3://[NETWORK_VOLUME_ID]/[REMOTE_DIR]

Unlike standard S3 buckets, ls and ListObjects operations will list empty directories.

​

Transfer files

Use cp to copy a file to a network volume:

aws s3 cp --region [DATACENTER] \
    --endpoint-url https://s3api-[DATACENTER].runpod.io/ \
    [LOCAL_FILE] \
    s3://[NETWORK_VOLUME_ID]

Use cp to copy a file from a network volume to a local directory:

aws s3 cp --region [DATACENTER] \
    --endpoint-url https://s3api-[DATACENTER].runpod.io/ \
    s3://[NETWORK_VOLUME_ID]/remote-file.txt ./[LOCAL_DIR]

Use rm to remove a file from a network volume:

aws s3 rm --region [DATACENTER] \
    --endpoint-url https://s3api-[DATACENTER].runpod.io/ \
    s3://[NETWORK_VOLUME_ID]/remote-file.txt

export AWS_RETRY_MODE=standard
export AWS_MAX_ATTEMPTS=10

​

Sync directories

This command syncs a local directory (source) to a network volume directory (destination):

aws s3 sync --region [DATACENTER] \
    --endpoint-url https://s3api-[DATACENTER].runpod.io/ \
    ./[LOCAL_DIR] \
    s3://[NETWORK_VOLUME_ID]/[REMOTE_DIR]

​

s3api CLI example

You can also use aws s3api commands (instead of the aws s3) to interact with the S3-compatible API.

For example, here’s how you could use aws s3api get-object to download an object from a network volume:

aws s3api get-object --bucket [NETWORK_VOLUME_ID] \
    --key [REMOTE_FILE] \
    --region [DATACENTER] \
    --endpoint-url https://s3api-[DATACENTER].runpod.io/ \
    [LOCAL_FILE]

Replace [LOCAL_FILE] with the desired path and name of the file after download—for example: ~/local-dir/my-file.txt.

For a list of available s3api commands, see the AWS s3api reference.

​

Boto3 Python example

You can also use the Boto3 library to interact with the S3-compatible API, using it to transfer files to and from a Runpod network volume.

The script below demonstrates how to upload a file to a Runpod network volume using the Boto3 library. It takes command-line arguments for the network volume ID (as an S3 bucket), the datacenter-specific S3 endpoint URL, the local file path, the desired object (file path on the network volume), and the AWS Region (which corresponds to the Runpod datacenter ID).

Your Runpod S3 API key credentials must be set as environment variables using the values from the Setup and authentication step:

• AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: Should be set to your Runpod S3 API key access key (e.g., user_***...).
• AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: Should be set to your Runpod S3 API key’s secret (e.g., rps_***...).

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import os
import argparse
import boto3 # AWS SDK for Python, used to interact with Runpod S3-compatible APIs

def create_s3_client(region: str, endpoint_url: str):

    # Creates and returns an S3 client configured for Runpod network volume S3-compatible API.
    #
    # Args:
    #   region (str): The Runpod datacenter ID, used as the AWS region
    #                 (e.g., 'ca-qc-1').
    #   endpoint_url (str): The S3 endpoint URL for the specific Runpod datacenter
    #                       (e.g., 'https://ca-qc-1-s3api.runpod.io/').

    # Returns:
    #   boto3.client: An S3 client object, configured for the Runpod S3 API.

    # Retrieve Runpod S3 API key credentials from environment variables.
    aws_access_key_id = os.environ.get("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID")
    aws_secret_access_key = os.environ.get("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY")

    # Ensure necessary S3 API key credentials are set in the environment
    if not aws_access_key_id or not aws_secret_access_key:
        raise EnvironmentError(
            "Please set AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID (with S3 API Key Access Key) and "
            "AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY (with S3 API Key Secret Access Key) environment variables. "
            "These are obtained from 'S3 API Keys' in the Runpod console settings."
        )

    # Initialize and return the S3 client for Runpod's S3-compatible API
    return boto3.client(
        "s3",
        aws_access_key_id=aws_access_key_id,
        aws_secret_access_key=aws_secret_access_key,
        region_name=region, # Corresponds to the Runpod datacenter ID
        endpoint_url=endpoint_url, # Datacenter-specific S3 API endpoint
    )

def put_object(s3_client, bucket_name: str, object_name: str, file_path: str):

    # Uploads a local file to the specified Runpod network volume.
    #
    # Args:
    #   s3_client: The S3 client object (e.g., returned by create_s3_client).
    #   bucket_name (str): The ID of the target Runpod network volume.
    #   object_name (str): The desired file path for the object on the network volume.
    #   file_path (str): The local path to the file (including the filename) that will be uploaded.

    try:
        # Attempt to upload the file to the Runpod network volume.
        s3_client.upload_file(file_path, bucket_name, object_name)
        print(f"Successfully uploaded '{file_path}' to Network Volume '{bucket_name}' as '{object_name}'")
    except Exception as e:
        # Catch any exception during upload, print an error, and re-raise
        print(f"Error uploading file '{file_path}' to Network Volume '{bucket_name}' as '{object_name}': {e}")
        raise

def main():

    # Parses command-line arguments and orchestrates the file upload process
    # to a Runpod network volume.

    # Set up command-line argument parsing
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description="Upload a file to a Runpod Network Volume using its S3-compatible API. "
                    "Requires AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY env vars to be set "
                    "with your Runpod S3 API key credentials."
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "-b", "--bucket",
        required=True,
        help="The ID of your Runpod Network Volume (acts as the S3 bucket name)."
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "-e", "--endpoint",
        required=True,
        help="The S3 endpoint URL for your Runpod datacenter (e.g., 'https://s3api-[DATACENTER].runpod.io/')."
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "-f", "--file",
        required=True,
        help="The local path to the file to be uploaded."
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "-o", "--object",
        required=True,
        help="The S3 object key (i.e., the desired file path on the Network Volume)."
    )
    parser.add_argument(
        "-r", "--region",
        required=True,
        help="The Runpod datacenter ID, used as the AWS region (e.g., 'ca-qc-1'). Find this in the Runpod console's Storage section or endpoint URL."
    )

    args = parser.parse_args()

    # Create the S3 client using the parsed arguments, configured for Runpod.
    client = create_s3_client(args.region, args.endpoint)

    # Upload the object to the specified network volume.
    put_object(client, args.bucket, args.object, args.file)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

When uploading files with Boto3, you must specify the complete file path (including the filename) for both source and destination files.

For example, for the put_objects method above, you must specify these arguments:

• file_path: The local source file (e.g., local_directory/file.txt).
• object_name: The remote destination file to be created on the network volume (e.g., remote_directory/file.txt).

With that in mind, here’s an example of how to run the script above using command-line arguments:

./s3_example_put.py --endpoint https://s3api-eur-is-1.runpod.io/ \
    --region 'EUR-IS-1' \
    --bucket 'network_volume_id' \
    --object 'remote_directory/file.txt' \
    --file 'local_directory/file.txt'

​

Supported S3 actions

The S3-compatible API supports the following operations. For detailed information on each, refer to the AWS S3 API documentation.

Large file handling is supported through multipart uploads, allowing you to transfer files larger than 5GB.

​

Known issues and limitations

​

ListObjects runs slowly or fails with “same next token” error

When running aws s3 ls or ListObjects on a directory with many files or large amounts of data (typically >10,000 files or >10 GB of data) for the first time, it may run very slowly, or you may encounter the following error:

"fatal error: Error during pagination: The same next token was received twice: ..."

This occurs because Runpod must compute and cache the MD5 checksum (i.e., ETag) for files created without the S3-compatible API. This computation can take several minutes for large directories or files, as the ListObjects request must wait until the checksum is ready.

Workarounds:

• The operation will typically complete successfully if you wait for the process to finish.
• If the client aborts with a pagination error, retry the operation after a brief pause.

​

Storage and time synchronization

• Storage capacity: Network volumes have a fixed storage capacity, unlike the virtually unlimited storage of standard S3 buckets. The CopyObject and UploadPart actions do not check for available free space beforehand and may fail if the volume runs out of space.
• Maximum file size: 4TB (the maximum size of a network volume).
• Object names: Unlike traditional S3 key-value stores, object names in the Runpod S3-compatible API correspond to actual file paths on your network volume. Object names containing special characters (e.g., #) may need to be URL encoded to ensure proper processing.
• Time synchronization: Requests that are out of time sync by 1 hour will be rejected. This is more lenient than the 15-minute window specified by the AWS SigV4 authentication specification.

​

Multipart uploads

• The S3-compatible API enforces a 500MB maximum on upload part size.
• The 5MB minimum part size for multipart uploads is not enforced.
• Multipart upload parts and metadata are stored in a hidden .s3compat_uploads/ folder. This folder and its contents are automatically cleaned up when you call CompleteMultipartUpload or AbortMultipartUpload.

​

Unsupported S3 features

• Object versioning.
• Object encryption.
• Object tagging.
• Object ACLs.
• Object locking.
• Website redirects.
• Storage classes besides STANDARD.

​

Reference documentation

For comprehensive documentation on AWS S3 commands and libraries, refer to:

• AWS CLI S3 reference.
• AWS S3 API reference.
• Boto3 S3 reference.