Connect MinIO - HeftySend

MinIO is a self-hosted, open-source object storage server that is fully S3-compatible. This guide walks you through connecting your MinIO server to HeftySend.

Custom storage requires a Premium or Ultra plan. MinIO is a good choice if you want to host storage on your own servers. See Using your own storage with HeftySend for an overview.

Step 1: Make sure MinIO is running and accessible

Your MinIO server must be running and reachable from the internet
Default ports are 9000 for the API and 9001 for the Console
Verify you can access the MinIO Console at your server's address

If your server is only accessible on a local network, you can use a tunnel service to expose it temporarily for testing.

Step 2: Create a bucket

Log into your MinIO Console
Go to "Buckets" then "Create Bucket"
Enter a bucket name (for example, heftysend)
Click "Create Bucket"

Step 3: Set up CORS (required for browser uploads)

CORS must be configured using the MinIO command line client (mc). Run the following commands on your server:

# Add your MinIO server as an alias
mc alias set myminio https://your-minio-server:9000 ACCESS_KEY SECRET_KEY

# Save this as cors.json
# {
#   "CORSRules": [{
#     "AllowedOrigins": ["*"],
#     "AllowedMethods": ["GET", "PUT", "POST", "DELETE", "HEAD"],
#     "AllowedHeaders": ["*"],
#     "ExposeHeaders": ["ETag"]
#   }]
# }

# Apply CORS to your bucket
mc cors set cors.json myminio/your-bucket-name

CORS cannot be set through the MinIO web console — it must be done via the mc command line tool. Without it, browser uploads will fail.

Step 4: Create access keys

In the MinIO Console, go to "Access Keys"
Click "Create Access Key"
Optionally set a name and expiration
Click "Create"
Save both the Access Key and Secret Key

Step 5: Connect to HeftySend

Go to Settings > Storage in your HeftySend dashboard
Click "Configure S3 Storage"
Enter your MinIO endpoint URL (for example, https://your-minio-server.com:9000)
Enter your Access Key and Secret Key
Enter your bucket name
For region, enter any value (for example, us-east-1) — MinIO ignores this field
Click "Test Connection" then "Save"

Troubleshooting

If connection fails, make sure your MinIO server is publicly accessible and you are using the correct port. Self-signed SSL certificates may cause browser errors — use a certificate from Let's Encrypt or a reverse proxy with valid SSL for production setups. For CORS errors, apply the CORS config using mc and restart MinIO if the problem persists.