StreamKit

The open source self hosted alternative to ImageKit and Cloudinary. Real time image transforms, adaptive video streaming, digital asset management, and an MCP server. All on your own infrastructure. Free forever.

ImageKit: $500/month | Cloudinary: $1500/month | StreamKit: $0/month

Table of Contents

• What is StreamKit
• Features
• Architecture
• Quick Start
• API Overview
• Zero Migration Guide
• MCP Server
• Comparison Table
• Contributing
• License

What is StreamKit

StreamKit is a fully open source media processing platform that you can self host on your own server. It handles everything from image optimization and real time transformations to adaptive bitrate video streaming. It connects to your existing storage like AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, Azure Blob, or Google Cloud Storage without moving a single file. It ships with a built in digital asset management system, a multi tenant workspace system, analytics, webhooks, transformation presets, and a FastMCP server that lets AI tools like Claude and Cursor control your entire media pipeline using natural language.

Features

1. Real time image transformations Any image can be transformed via URL parameters including width, height, format, quality, fit mode, blur, rotation, flip, brightness, contrast, and saturation. It automatically serves AVIF or WebP based on the browser accept header.

2. Adaptive video streaming Uploaded videos are automatically transcoded into 1080p, 720p, 480p, and 360p in parallel using FFmpeg and a master HLS playlist is generated for adaptive bitrate streaming.

3. Zero migration from ImageKit or Cloudinary Companies can switch by only changing their domain name and all existing ImageKit and Cloudinary transformation URLs work identically with no code changes.

4. External storage connectors Existing AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, Azure Blob, and Google Cloud Storage buckets can be connected directly and StreamKit fetches optimizes and serves from there without moving any files.

5. Multi tenant workspaces Multiple isolated workspaces can be created for different teams clients or business units each with separate storage API keys and analytics.

6. Transformation presets Named presets can be created once and reused everywhere and updating a preset automatically updates every URL that uses it.

7. Analytics Every transformation request is tracked and dashboards show total requests bandwidth saved cache hit rate format breakdown top assets and error reports per workspace.

8. MCP server StreamKit ships with a FastMCP server that connects to Claude Cursor and Windsurf and allows controlling the entire media pipeline using natural language prompts.

Architecture

• API layer: FastAPI
• Async task queue: Celery backed by Redis
• Image processing: Pillow with AVIF and WebP support
• Video transcoding: FFmpeg with libx264 for HLS adaptive bitrate streaming
• Database and asset state tracking: Supabase
• Storage: Cloudflare R2 or any S3 compatible storage
• MCP server: FastMCP
• Deployment: Docker with Docker Compose

Quick Start

1. Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/streamkit/streamkit.git
cd streamkit

2. Copy environment file

cp .env.example .env

Fill in Supabase and R2 credentials.

3. Start everything

docker compose up

4. Upload first asset

curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/upload \
	-F "workspace_id=<workspace_id>" \
	-F "file=@./sample.jpg"

5. Serve transformed asset

curl "http://localhost:8000/media/<asset_id>?w=800&f=webp"

API Overview

Upload

• POST /upload - Upload an image or video and enqueue processing.
• GET /status/{asset_id} - Get processing status for an uploaded asset.

Transform

• GET /media/{asset_id} - Apply real time image transformations and return transformed bytes.
• GET /img/{asset_id} - Alias for media transform endpoint.
• GET /ik/{path} - ImageKit style transformation rewrite route.
• GET /ik/{workspace_id}/{path} - Workspace scoped ImageKit compatibility route.
• GET /cloudinary/{cloud_name}/image/upload/{transformations}/{path} - Cloudinary style compatibility route.

Assets

• GET /assets/{asset_id} - Fetch an asset plus playback payload.
• GET /player/{asset_id} - Render embeddable player page for image/video playback.

Origins

• POST /origins - Register a new origin (S3/R2/HTTP/custom).
• GET /origins/{workspace_id} - List origins in a workspace.
• PUT /origins/{origin_id} - Update origin configuration.
• DELETE /origins/{origin_id} - Delete an origin.
• GET /proxy/{origin_id}/{path} - Fetch and optimize media from a registered origin.

Workspaces

• GET /me/workspaces - List workspaces owned by the authenticated user.
• POST /me/workspaces - Create workspace for authenticated user.
• POST /workspaces - Create workspace for an organization.
• GET /workspaces/{workspace_id} - Get workspace details.
• POST /workspaces/{workspace_id}/api-keys - Create workspace API key.
• GET /workspaces/{workspace_id}/api-keys - List workspace API keys.
• POST /bootstrap - Bootstrap anonymous session workspace.

Analytics

• POST /analytics/events - Track analytics event.
• GET /analytics/workspaces/{workspace_id} - Fetch analytics event feed for workspace.

Presets

• POST /presets - Create named transformation preset.
• GET /presets/{workspace_id} - List workspace presets.
• GET /presets/{workspace_id}/{name} - Get specific preset by name.

Webhooks

• POST /webhooks - Register workspace webhook endpoint.
• GET /webhooks/{workspace_id} - List workspace webhooks.

Zero Migration Guide

If you currently use ImageKit, you can switch by changing only your domain.

Before (ImageKit):

https://ik.imagekit.io/demo/tr:w-800,h-600,f-webp,q-85/path/to/image.jpg

After (StreamKit):

https://media.yourcompany.com/ik/path/to/image.jpg?tr=w-800,h-600,f-webp,q-85

Cloudinary migration works the same way.

Before (Cloudinary):

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/c_fill,w_800,h_600,f_webp,q_85/path/to/image.jpg

After (StreamKit):

https://media.yourcompany.com/cloudinary/demo/image/upload/c_fill,w_800,h_600,f_webp,q_85/path/to/image.jpg

Every transformation parameter works identically.

MCP Server

The FastMCP server is located in the streamkit_mcp folder and provides:

• Asset management tools
• Transform tools
• Workspace tools
• Preset tools
• Analytics tools
• Origin connector tools
• Webhook tools
• Media intelligence tools

You can connect it to Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf using the streamkit_mcp/mcp.json config file.

Example prompts:

• "Upload ./hero.jpg to workspace marketing, create a WebP transform URL at width 1200, and show estimated AVIF savings."
• "List failed jobs in workspace ops, retry all video jobs, and register a webhook for asset.ready and transform.error events."

Comparison Table

Capability	StreamKit	ImageKit	Cloudinary
Price	$0/month	$500/month	$1500/month
Self hosted	Yes	No	No
Open source	Yes	No	No
Real time transforms	Yes	Yes	Yes
HLS video streaming	Yes	Limited	Yes
External storage connect	Yes	Yes	Yes
ImageKit URL compatible	Yes	Native	No
Cloudinary URL compatible	Yes	No	Native
MCP server	Yes	No	No
Multi tenant workspaces	Yes	Partial	Yes
GDPR and data residency control	Full control	Limited	Limited
Vendor lock in	None	High	High

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. StreamKit follows a fork and pull request workflow.

• Open an issue to report a bug or request a feature.
• Issues labeled good first issue are suitable for beginners.
• One feature or fix per pull request is preferred.
• The project responds to pull requests within 48 hours.

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

StreamKit is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. You are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, including for commercial purposes, as long as you include the original license and give credit.

The name StreamKit is a trademark of the StreamKit contributors.

Built in public. MIT for the community. Star the repo if StreamKit saves you money.