What is a Base URI?
Learn how Base URIs work and how to set up metadata for your NFT collection.
What is a Base URI?
A Base URI is the root URL where your NFT metadata files are stored. When someone views your NFT, wallets and marketplaces fetch the metadata from this location to display the name, description, image, and attributes of each token.
# Example Base URI:
ipfs://QmYourIPFSHash/
# How it works:
Token #1 → ipfs://QmYourIPFSHash/1
Token #2 → ipfs://QmYourIPFSHash/2
Token #42 → ipfs://QmYourIPFSHash/42
NFT Metadata Structure
Each token needs a JSON file with this structure
{
"name": "Epic Sword #1",
"description": "A legendary sword forged in dragon fire",
"image": "ipfs://QmImageHash/1.png",
"attributes": [
{
"trait_type": "Rarity",
"value": "Legendary"
},
{
"trait_type": "Damage",
"value": 150
},
{
"trait_type": "Element",
"value": "Fire"
}
]
}The image field should point to where your actual image is stored (usually IPFS).
Folder Structure
How to organize your files before uploading
my-nft-collection/
├── metadata/
│ ├── 1 (no extension)
│ ├── 2
│ ├── 3
│ └── ...
└── images/
├── 1.png
├── 2.png
├── 3.png
└── ...Important: Metadata files should NOT have a .json extension. They should be named just 1, 2, etc.
How to Get a Base URI
Popular services to host your NFT metadata
Quick Steps
- 1Create your NFT images (PNG, JPG, GIF, etc.)
- 2Upload images to IPFS and get the folder CID
- 3Create JSON metadata files pointing to your images
- 4Upload metadata folder to IPFS
- 5Use the metadata folder CID as your Base URI:
ipfs://QmYourCID/
Don't Have Metadata Yet?
No worries! You can create your NFT collection first and set the Base URI later. Many projects launch their collection and then reveal the metadata after minting is complete.
Leave Base URI empty for now
You can update it anytime through the contract owner functions after deploying your collection.