CloudFront with S3

CloudFront lets IntelliAsk keep files in S3 while serving images, avatars, and downloads through stable CDN URLs. This is the recommended AWS setup when you want S3 durability without exposing users to expiring S3 presigned image URLs.

When to Use CloudFront

Use CloudFront when you want:

• Stable avatar and image URLs that keep rendering across the UI
• Global edge caching in front of an S3 bucket
• Signed cookies for private inline images and avatars
• Backend-authorized signed URLs for downloads
• Optional cache invalidation when files are deleted

Requirements

• A private S3 bucket
• A CloudFront distribution with the S3 bucket as an origin
• An Origin Access Control (OAC) or equivalent origin access policy so CloudFront can read from S3
• AWS_REGION and AWS_BUCKET_NAME
• AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, unless your deployment uses an AWS identity provider such as IRSA
• CLOUDFRONT_KEY_PAIR_ID and CLOUDFRONT_PRIVATE_KEY when using signed cookies or signed download URLs

Environment Variables

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_access_key_id
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_secret_access_key
AWS_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_BUCKET_NAME=your_bucket_name
 
# Required for signed cookies and signed CloudFront download URLs
CLOUDFRONT_KEY_PAIR_ID=K1234567890ABC
CLOUDFRONT_PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\n...\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"

CLOUDFRONT_PRIVATE_KEY must contain the full PEM private key. In .env, quote it and preserve newlines, or inject it from your platform secret manager.

Basic Configuration

Use fileStrategies when you want CloudFront for images and avatars while keeping documents on S3 signed URLs:

version: 1.3.11
 
fileStrategies:
  avatar: 'cloudfront'
  image: 'cloudfront'
  document: 's3'
 
cloudfront:
  domain: 'https://cdn.example.com'
  imageSigning: 'none'
  urlExpiry: 3600

Use fileStrategy if every file type should use CloudFront:

fileStrategy: 'cloudfront'
 
cloudfront:
  domain: 'https://cdn.example.com'

Signed Cookies

Signed cookies are the secure mode for private inline images and avatars. They let IntelliAsk keep stable CloudFront URLs in messages and records while authorizing access with short-lived cookies.

fileStrategies:
  avatar: 'cloudfront'
  image: 'cloudfront'
  document: 's3'
 
cloudfront:
  domain: 'https://cdn.example.com'
  imageSigning: 'cookies'
  cookieDomain: '.example.com'
  cookieExpiry: 1800
  urlExpiry: 3600
  requireSignedAccess: true

Domain Requirements

For signed cookies, the IntelliAsk API and CloudFront hostname must share a parent domain:

• API: https://api.example.com
• CloudFront CNAME: https://cdn.example.com
• cookieDomain: ".example.com"

cookieDomain must start with a dot. The browser will not send CloudFront cookies to an unrelated domain.

What Cookies Protect

IntelliAsk scopes signed cookies to inline media paths:

• /i/... private uploaded or generated images, scoped to the user
• /a/... avatar assets, scoped to the tenant when tenantId is present

Documents, general uploads, and code outputs stay outside those inline media paths. Downloads are authorized by the backend and returned as signed CloudFront URLs.

Cookie Refresh

When signed-cookie mode is active, IntelliAsk advertises a cookie refresh endpoint in startup config:

POST /api/auth/cloudfront/refresh

Authenticated sessions refresh cookies during auth flows, token refresh, and CloudFront image retry paths. The refresh response includes the cookie lifetime and the recommended refresh timing.

Signed Downloads

IntelliAsk uses signed CloudFront URLs for authorized downloads. The urlExpiry setting controls their lifetime in seconds:

cloudfront:
  domain: 'https://cdn.example.com'
  imageSigning: 'cookies'
  cookieDomain: '.example.com'
  urlExpiry: 3600

For direct-download filename and content-type overrides, configure the CloudFront cache/origin request policy to forward these query strings to S3:

• response-content-disposition
• response-content-type

For download paths, attach a response headers policy with:

• X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
• A restrictive Content Security Policy, such as default-src 'none'

Cache Invalidation

By default, IntelliAsk deletes the S3 object and does not create a CloudFront invalidation. Enable invalidation when deleted files must disappear from edge cache immediately:

cloudfront:
  domain: 'https://cdn.example.com'
  distributionId: 'E1234ABCD'
  invalidateOnDelete: true

distributionId is required when invalidateOnDelete is true. The AWS identity used by IntelliAsk also needs cloudfront:CreateInvalidation.

Multi-Region Object Paths

includeRegionInPath adds the storage region to newly generated object keys:

cloudfront:
  domain: 'https://cdn.example.com'
  storageRegion: 'us-east-2'
  includeRegionInPath: true

When enabled, new keys include region-aware path segments, for example:

/i/r/us-east-2/t/tenantId/images/userId/file.png
/a/r/us-east-2/t/tenantId/avatars/userId/avatar.png
/r/us-east-2/t/tenantId/images/userId/file.pdf

This only affects newly generated keys. Existing files are not moved. IntelliAsk does not configure CloudFront origins, Route 53, or regional routing for you.

CloudFront Block Reference

Suggested AWS Permissions

Use least-privilege IAM permissions for the S3 bucket. Add CloudFront invalidation permission only if invalidateOnDelete is enabled.

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": ["s3:PutObject", "s3:GetObject", "s3:DeleteObject", "s3:ListBucket"],
      "Resource": ["arn:aws:s3:::my-intelliask-bucket", "arn:aws:s3:::my-intelliask-bucket/*"]
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "cloudfront:CreateInvalidation",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:cloudfront::123456789012:distribution/E1234ABCD"
    }
  ]
}

Troubleshooting

• Startup logs CloudFront domain is required: add cloudfront.domain.
• Startup logs S3 must be initialized: configure S3 environment variables first.
• Signed cookies are not set: confirm imageSigning: "cookies", cookieDomain, CLOUDFRONT_KEY_PAIR_ID, and CLOUDFRONT_PRIVATE_KEY.
• Browser still cannot load images: confirm API and CDN hostnames share the configured parent domain and that cookies are allowed with Secure and SameSite=None.
• Downloads ignore filename/content type: update the CloudFront cache/origin request policy to forward the response override query strings.