How to enable image upload support in CKEditor 5?

Yes, image upload is included in all the available builds. In order to make it work, though, you need to configure one of the existing upload adapters or write your own. In short, upload adapter is a simple class which role is to send a file to a server (in whatever way it wants) and resolve the returned promise once it’s done.

You can read more in the official Image upload guide or see the short summary of the available options below.

Official upload adapters

There are two built-in adapters:

• For CKFinder which require you to install the CKFinder connectors on your server.

  Once you have the connector installed on your server, you can configure CKEditor to upload files to that connector by setting the config.ckfinder.uploadUrl option:

  ClassicEditor
      .create( editorElement, {
          ckfinder: {
              uploadUrl: '/ckfinder/core/connector/php/connector.php?command=QuickUpload&type=Files&responseType=json'
          }
      } )
      .then( ... )
      .catch( ... );
  

  You can also enable full integration with CKFinder’s client-side file manager. Check out the CKFinder integration demos and read more in the CKFinder integration guide.

• For the Easy Image service which is a part of CKEditor Cloud Services.

  You need to set up a Cloud Services account and once you created a token endpoint configure the editor to use it:

  ClassicEditor
      .create( editorElement, {
          cloudServices: {
              tokenUrl: 'https://example.com/cs-token-endpoint',
              uploadUrl: 'https://your-organization-id.cke-cs.com/easyimage/upload/'
          }
      } )
      .then( ... )
      .catch( ... );
  

Disclaimer: These are proprietary services.

Custom upload adapter

You can also write your own upload adapter which will send files in the way you want to your server (or wherever you like to send them).

See Custom image upload adapter guide to learn how to implement it.

An example (i.e. with no security built-in) upload adapter can look like this:

class MyUploadAdapter {
    constructor( loader ) {
        // CKEditor 5's FileLoader instance.
        this.loader = loader;

        // URL where to send files.
        this.url="https://example.com/image/upload/path";
    }

    // Starts the upload process.
    upload() {
        return new Promise( ( resolve, reject ) => {
            this._initRequest();
            this._initListeners( resolve, reject );
            this._sendRequest();
        } );
    }

    // Aborts the upload process.
    abort() {
        if ( this.xhr ) {
            this.xhr.abort();
        }
    }

    // Example implementation using XMLHttpRequest.
    _initRequest() {
        const xhr = this.xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

        xhr.open( 'POST', this.url, true );
        xhr.responseType="json";
    }

    // Initializes XMLHttpRequest listeners.
    _initListeners( resolve, reject ) {
        const xhr = this.xhr;
        const loader = this.loader;
        const genericErrorText="Couldn\"t upload file:' + ` ${ loader.file.name }.`;

        xhr.addEventListener( 'error', () => reject( genericErrorText ) );
        xhr.addEventListener( 'abort', () => reject() );
        xhr.addEventListener( 'load', () => {
            const response = xhr.response;

            if ( !response || response.error ) {
                return reject( response && response.error ? response.error.message : genericErrorText );
            }

            // If the upload is successful, resolve the upload promise with an object containing
            // at least the "default" URL, pointing to the image on the server.
            resolve( {
                default: response.url
            } );
        } );

        if ( xhr.upload ) {
            xhr.upload.addEventListener( 'progress', evt => {
                if ( evt.lengthComputable ) {
                    loader.uploadTotal = evt.total;
                    loader.uploaded = evt.loaded;
                }
            } );
        }
    }

    // Prepares the data and sends the request.
    _sendRequest() {
        const data = new FormData();

        data.append( 'upload', this.loader.file );

        this.xhr.send( data );
    }
}

Which can then be enabled like this:

function MyCustomUploadAdapterPlugin( editor ) {
    editor.plugins.get( 'FileRepository' ).createUploadAdapter = ( loader ) => {
        return new MyUploadAdapter( loader );
    };
}

ClassicEditor
    .create( document.querySelector( '#editor' ), {
        extraPlugins: [ MyCustomUploadAdapterPlugin ],

        // ...
    } )
    .catch( error => {
        console.log( error );
    } );

NOTE: The above is just an example upload adapter. As such, it does not have security mechanisms built-in (such as CSRF protection).