Handling large images & files in a real time chat application

📰 Reddit r/webdev

Learn how to handle large images and files in a real-time chat application using FastAPI, WebSockets, and GCP

intermediate Published 31 May 2026
Action Steps
  1. Design a file upload flow using signed URLs to handle large files
  2. Implement a backend service using FastAPI to generate signed URLs
  3. Configure the frontend to upload files directly to GCP using the signed URL
  4. Use WebSockets to notify users of incoming files in real-time
  5. Optimize file storage and retrieval using Postgres and Redis
Who Needs to Know This

Backend developers and DevOps engineers can benefit from this approach to handle large file uploads in real-time chat applications

Key Insight

💡 Using signed URLs to upload files directly to the cloud reduces server load and improves performance

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📱💻 Handle large files in real-time chat apps with signed URLs and GCP!

Key Takeaways

Learn how to handle large images and files in a real-time chat application using FastAPI, WebSockets, and GCP

Full Article

Hey guys, would love to get some feedback on whether my approach here makes sense. I’m building a real-time chat application where users can upload and receive images/files. Files can be fairly large (up to ~100MB). Current stack is: fastapi, websockets, tanstack, postgres and redis. I use GCP as my cloud provider. My current flow is: Backend generates a signed URL Frontend uploads directly to a G
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