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Home » Magento Guide » What is Magento development? » Magento 2 + Cloudinary — tutorial for setup by admins

Magento 2 + Cloudinary — tutorial for setup by admins

Key takeaways

Cloudinary Magento 2 setup starts with a Cloudinary account and API environment variable.
Magento admins can configure Cloudinary after the Magento 2 extension is installed.
Refreshing Magento cache helps the new Cloudinary media settings take effect.
The Add from Cloudinary button confirms that Magento can connect to the Cloudinary Media Library.

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What is Cloudinary?

Cloudinary is a modern Content Delivery Network (CDN) and one of the market leaders in providing cloud-based image and video management solutions. As a CDN, Cloudinary maintains a geographically distributed network of servers that can speed up static content delivery, with advanced image optimization built in.

Cloudinary helps Magento stores manage, optimize, transform, and deliver media assets, including product images, category images, CMS images, and video files.

Cloudinary content delivery network setup for Magento 2

Cloudinary isn’t compatible with Magento 1, so Magento 1 stores should consider moving to Magento 2, OpenMage, or reviewing Liquid Web Safe Harbor options.

The Cloudinary Magento 2 setup process includes three main steps:

Create a Cloudinary account
Install the Cloudinary extension for Magento 2
Configure Cloudinary in Magento Admin

This tutorial covers each step below.

Cloudinary tutorial for Magento 2 setup step 1: create your Cloudinary account

Open the Cloudinary website and create an account, or log in to your existing account. After logging in, go to the Cloudinary Console and find your API environment variable.

You’ll need this value later when you connect Cloudinary to Magento 2.

Cloudinary tutorial for Magento 2 setup step 2: install the Cloudinary Magento 2 extension

Before you install the extension, back up your Magento 2 database and use a staging environment when possible. If you need to install the extension on a live store, put the store into maintenance mode during the installation process.

Add the Cloudinary extension

Run the Composer command to add the Cloudinary Magento 2 extension:

After Composer installs the extension, Magento should recognize the module.

Check the Cloudinary module status

Run the module status command from your Magento root directory:

Magento should show whether the Cloudinary module is enabled or disabled.

Enable the Cloudinary extension

Enable the extension and register it with Magento:

Finalize the Magento 2 and Cloudinary installation

Run the standard Magento setup commands:

Then confirm the Cloudinary module is enabled:

Disable Magento 2 maintenance mode

After the installation is complete, disable maintenance mode so you can continue setup from the Magento 2 Admin Panel.

Cloudinary tutorial for Magento 2 setup step 3: configure Cloudinary on your Magento 2 store

Stores > Configuration > Cloudinary > Settings

Open the Cloudinary settings page. In the Cloudinary Setup section, paste your API environment variable into the Cloudinary Account Credentials field.

Make sure Enable Cloudinary is set to Yes, then click Save Config.

Refresh Magento cache

After saving the Cloudinary settings, refresh Magento cache so the new configuration can take effect.

Go to:

System > Tools > Cache Management

Refresh Configuration and Page Cache. You can also clear cache from the command line:

Review Cloudinary media delivery settings

After connecting your Cloudinary account to Magento 2, review the media delivery settings in the Cloudinary configuration area.

Enable auto-uploading

Cloudinary can upload existing Magento media when shoppers request those assets for the first time, depending on your extension configuration.

Test this first if your store has a large media library.

Use bulk upload for large media libraries

If you need to move a large set of media assets into Cloudinary, ask a developer to review the Cloudinary CLI options for Magento.

A common bulk upload command is:

Refresh Magento cache after the migration finishes.

Default image transformations

The Default Image Transformations menu controls how Cloudinary handles images globally. Start with the default settings if you aren’t sure which transformation settings your store needs.

You can later review options such as automatic image format optimization and image quality settings.

Product gallery

The Cloudinary product gallery is disabled by default and can be enabled in Magento Admin.

Cloudinary’s product gallery can replace the default Magento 2 product gallery when enabled. Review the product gallery settings before turning it on, especially if your store uses custom product page layouts, a custom theme, or third-party product media extensions.

Verify your Cloudinary Magento 2 setup

After configuration, confirm that Magento can connect to Cloudinary.

Open a product edit page or CMS page in Magento Admin, then check the media area. You should see an Add from Cloudinary button. Clicking it should open the Cloudinary Media Library inside Magento Admin.

If you don’t see the button, review:

Cloudinary extension status
Cloudinary account credentials
Magento cache
Admin permissions
Cloudinary settings
Extension compatibility

Common Cloudinary Magento 2 setup issues

The Cloudinary settings didn’t save. Check your Magento Admin permissions, Cloudinary credentials, extension installation, and cache status.
Images don’t update right away. Check Magento cache, browser cache, CDN behavior, and Cloudinary transformation settings.
Existing media isn’t available in Cloudinary. Review auto-upload settings, media mapping, and whether a bulk upload step is needed.

Magento 2 + Cloudinary next steps

Cloudinary Magento 2 setup works best when admins confirm the account credentials, save the extension settings, refresh cache, and verify the media connection inside Magento Admin.

Start by retrieving your Cloudinary API environment variable and confirming the Cloudinary extension is installed in Magento.

If image delivery, storefront speed, or Magento media management affects a live ecommerce site, explore Liquid Web Magento hosting built for serious ecommerce stores.