Utility Nodes

Transform data flow and control processing logic.

Plugin Requirements

No Plugin Required for Most Nodes

Most utility nodes (Conditional, Merge, Multiplex) work without any plugin - they’re built into the core flow engine. Only the Zip Node requires a plugin.

Available Plugin

Plugin	Package	Operations	Requirements
zipPlugin	@uploadista/flow-utility-zipjs	Create ZIP archives	None

Installation (for Zip Node only)

npm

npm install @uploadista/flow-utility-nodes @uploadista/flow-utility-zipjs

pnpm

pnpm add @uploadista/flow-utility-nodes @uploadista/flow-utility-zipjs

yarn

yarn add @uploadista/flow-utility-nodes @uploadista/flow-utility-zipjs

import { createUploadistaServer } from "@uploadista/server";
import { zipPlugin } from "@uploadista/flow-utility-zipjs";

const uploadista = await createUploadistaServer({
  // ...
  plugins: [
    zipPlugin(),
  ],
});

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Conditional Node

Routes inputs based on file properties.

No Plugin Required

This node works without any plugin.

Package: @uploadista/flow-utility-nodes

import { createConditionalNode } from '@uploadista/flow-utility-nodes';

// Route images > 1MB to compression, others pass through
const conditionalNode = createConditionalNode("size-router", {
  field: "size",
  operator: "greaterThan",
  value: 1024 * 1024, // 1MB
});

// Route by MIME type
const mimeRouter = createConditionalNode("mime-router", {
  field: "mimeType",
  operator: "contains",
  value: "image",
});

// Route by file extension
const extensionRouter = createConditionalNode("ext-router", {
  field: "extension",
  operator: "equals",
  value: "pdf",
});

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
field	"mimeType" | "size" | "width" | "height" | "extension"	Yes	File property to evaluate
operator	"equals" | "notEquals" | "greaterThan" | "lessThan" | "contains" | "startsWith"	Yes	Comparison operator
value	string | number	Yes	Value to compare against

Use Cases

• Route images to resize, documents to compress
• Size-based routing (process large files differently)
• Format-specific processing paths
• Filter files by type before processing

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Merge Node

Combine multiple inputs into a batch.

No Plugin Required

This node works without any plugin.

Package: @uploadista/flow-utility-nodes

import { createMergeNode } from '@uploadista/flow-utility-nodes';

// Concatenate 3 files into one
const mergeNode = createMergeNode("file-merger", {
  strategy: "concat",
  inputCount: 3,
});

// Batch 5 uploads before processing
const batchNode = createMergeNode("batch-collector", {
  strategy: "batch",
  inputCount: 5,
  separator: "\n",
});

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
strategy	"concat" | "batch"	No	"batch"	Merge strategy
inputCount	number (2-10)	No	2	Number of inputs to wait for
separator	string	No	"\n"	Separator for concat strategy

Strategies

Strategy	Description
batch	Collect files into an array for downstream processing
concat	Combine file contents into a single file

Use Cases

• Batch upload processing
• Combine files before archiving
• Wait for multiple inputs before proceeding
• Aggregate results from parallel processing

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Multiplex Node

Split single input to multiple outputs for parallel processing.

No Plugin Required

This node works without any plugin.

Package: @uploadista/flow-utility-nodes

import { createMultiplexNode } from '@uploadista/flow-utility-nodes';

// Send to 3 different destinations
const multiplexNode = createMultiplexNode("multi-output", {
  outputCount: 3,
  strategy: "copy",
});

// Duplicate to 2 storage backends
const backupNode = createMultiplexNode("backup-splitter", {
  outputCount: 2,
  strategy: "copy",
});

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
outputCount	number (1-10)	Yes	-	Number of output copies
strategy	"copy" | "split"	No	"copy"	copy duplicates the file, split divides it

Strategies

Strategy	Description
copy	Duplicate the file to each output path
split	Divide the file into parts (for large files)

Use Cases

• Multi-destination delivery (S3 + backup)
• Create multiple sizes simultaneously
• Parallel processing paths
• Redundant storage

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Zip Node

Create ZIP archives from inputs.

Requires Plugin

ZipPlugin - Use @uploadista/flow-utility-zipjs

Package: @uploadista/flow-utility-nodes

import { createZipNode } from '@uploadista/flow-utility-nodes';

// Archive multiple files
const zipNode = createZipNode("archiver", {
  zipName: "backup.zip",
  includeMetadata: true,
  inputCount: 5,
});

// Simple archive without metadata
const simpleZip = createZipNode("simple-archive", {
  zipName: "files.zip",
});

// High compression archive
const compressedZip = createZipNode("compressed-archive", {
  zipName: "archive.zip",
  compressionLevel: 9,
});

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
zipName	string	No	"archive.zip"	Output ZIP filename
includeMetadata	boolean	No	false	Include file metadata in archive
inputCount	number (2-10)	No	2	Number of files to archive
compressionLevel	number (0-9)	No	6	Compression level (0=none, 9=max)

Compression Levels

Level	Description	Use Case
0-3	Fast, minimal compression	Network bottleneck, speed priority
6	Balanced (default)	General use
9	Maximum compression	Cold storage, size priority

Use Cases

• Archive multiple files for download
• Batch delivery
• Backup creation
• Package multiple processed files

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Use Case Patterns

Pattern 1: Smart Routing

Route different file types to appropriate processors:

Input -> Conditional (is image?)
         |-- YES: Resize -> Optimize
         |-- NO: Conditional (is PDF?)
                 |-- YES: Extract Text
                 |-- NO: Store directly

Pattern 2: Batch Processing

Collect files before processing:

Input 1 -+
Input 2 -+-- Merge (batch 3) -> Process -> Output
Input 3 -+

Pattern 3: Multi-Destination

Store to multiple backends:

Input -> Multiplex -+-- Store to S3 (primary)
                    +-- Store to GCS (backup)
                    +-- Send to Webhook

Pattern 4: Archive Pipeline

Process and archive:

Input -> Multiplex -+-- Optimize WebP
                    +-- Optimize JPEG  -> Merge -> Zip -> Store
                    +-- Optimize PNG

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Performance

Node	Speed	Memory
Conditional	Instant	Minimal
Merge	Instant (waits for inputs)	Depends on batch size
Multiplex	Instant	Minimal (references only)
Zip	100-500ms	Depends on total file size

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Related

• Plugins Concept - How plugins work
• Flow Nodes Overview - All available nodes