Get started with IMM - Object Storage Service

Object Storage Service (OSS) integrates Intelligent Media Management (IMM) capabilities, giving you document processing, media processing, and data analysis features directly within your bucket.

This guide covers two paths to your first IMM call:

Console: Map an IMM project to your bucket and manage processing tasks visually.
SDK: Trigger IMM processing programmatically using the x-oss-process parameter.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

An activated IMM service. For details, see Activate IMM.
A bucket in a region where IMM is supported. For supported regions, see Service endpoints.
(If using a RAM user) The following permissions granted to the RAM user:
- System policies: AliyunOSSFullAccess and AliyunIMMFullAccess
- Custom policies: oss:ProcessImm and ram:GetRole
Create the custom policies before granting them to the RAM user. For details, see Grant permissions to a RAM user and Custom RAM policy examples.

Billing

IMM usage is billed separately. For pricing details, see Billing overview.

Step 1: Map an IMM project to your bucket

Mapping an IMM project to your bucket enables IMM features for that bucket. Skip this step if you only need image processing — image processing does not require project mapping.

Log on to the OSS Management Console.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Buckets, then click the name of your bucket.
In the left-side navigation pane, select Data Processing.
Click Document Processing or Media Processing, then click Map Project to Bucket on the binding page.
In the Map Project dialog box, under IMM Configuration, choose how to set up the project:
- Create Project: Enter a project name. OSS creates a new IMM project in the bucket's region and maps it automatically.
- Map Existing Project: Select an existing IMM project from the drop-down list.
  Important
  The Map Existing Project option is only available if the IMM project was created in the same region as the bucket. To create a project first, see Create a project.
Click OK.

Step 2: Use IMM features

Use IMM in the OSS console

Click Buckets. On the Buckets page, click the name of the bucket.
In the left-side navigation pane, select Data Processing.
Click Document Processing or Media Processing to create styles and tasks.

Use OSS SDK for Intelligent Media Processing

The following Python example generates a signed URL that applies a document processing style to an object. All IMM SDK calls use the x-oss-process parameter.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import os
import oss2

# Endpoint for the region where your bucket is located.
# Example: https://oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com
endpoint = 'https://oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com'

# Security risks may arise if you use the AccessKey pair of an Alibaba Cloud account,
# for the account has permissions on all API operations. We recommend that you use
# the AccessKey pair of a RAM user for API operations and O&M.
# To create a RAM user, log on to the RAM console.
access_key_id = 'yourAccessKeyId'
access_key_secret = 'yourAccessKeySecret'

# The bucket containing the object to process.
bucket_name = 'examplebucket'

# The full path of the object. Do not include the bucket name.
key = 'exampledir/example.docx'

bucket = oss2.Bucket(oss2.Auth(access_key_id, access_key_secret), endpoint, bucket_name)

# Define the processing style: document preview with copy, export, and print enabled,
# limited to 3 pages.
style = 'doc/preview,copy_1,export_1,print_1,pages_3'

# Generate a signed URL valid for 600 seconds (10 minutes).
url = bucket.sign_url('GET', key, 10 * 60, params={'x-oss-process': style})
print(url)

Replace the placeholder values with your actual bucket name and object path before running the code.

Placeholder	Description	Example
`examplebucket`	Your bucket name	`my-media-bucket`
`exampledir/example.docx`	The full path of the object to process	`docs/report.docx`