Embedding images inside a GitHub wiki (gollum) repository?

Question

The Github wikis are backed by a separate git repository then the main project repository.

This post by the Github team makes it sound like you should be able to link to images stored in the wiki repository inside the wiki markup.

Images and Folders

You can now reference images hosted inside the Git repository.

I've checked out my wiki's repository and pushed a resource folder and an image into it. My question is, how do I go about using this image?

Is this even possible or have I misunderstood something?

There is a github-faq about [adding-images-to-wikis](https://help.github.com/articles/adding-images-to-wikis/) but it has no infos about short relative image urls discussed here — k3b, Apr 15 '15 at 07:11
Typical image urls are rendered with [Camo](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57857193/github-image-without-camo). — Laurie Stearn, Sep 24 '21 at 06:40
Feb. 2022: there is an official support for uploading images to your Wiki pages. See [my answer below](https://stackoverflow.com/a/71118943/6309). — VonC, Feb 14 '22 at 22:19

score 107 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 18 '18 at 13:29

For viewers wishing to view images on a github wiki I've found the following method to work:

Go to the "Git Access" tab inside the wiki page of your repository and retrieve the SSH path which should be some thing like: git@github.com:USER/REPO.wiki.git where USER is your account name and REPO is the repository name.
On your local machine use whichever Git command line tool you wish to cd into your local directory of choice and get the repository via

git clone git@github.com:USER/REPO.wiki.git
Now within this repository create an image directory, I'll call it "images" and put whatever images you want into the directory
And then push your wiki git directory to github
You will not be able to physically see the images in say the "Pages" tab, but if you simply reference the images in a local link you should be able to see them. Example with Markdown below:

![Alt attribute text Here](images/YOURIMAGE.ext)
You may also embed the image as a link itself by wrapping it further like so:

[![Alt attribute text Here](images/YOURIMAGE.ext)](http://Yoursite.com)

You can also add subdirectories within your local copy to help organize the wiki since the "pages" tab simply lists them out. Keep in mind, however, that even when the new directory is pushed the "pages" tab doesn't list the directory.

Here is a post explaining what @urig suggested which is the solution to follow. Super cool. http://mikehadlow.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-to-add-images-to-github-wiki.html — ElMatador, Sep 29 '21 at 23:37
@ElMatador the answer was posted by Ryan Q. I only made a minor edit to it. :) — urig, Oct 05 '21 at 18:55

score 56 · Accepted Answer · answered May 02 '12 at 13:34

56

To use relative paths do:

[[foo.jpg]]

For more info, see the demo wiki's page on images.

answered May 02 '12 at 13:34

Benjamin Oakes

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This is preferable to hardcoding the path. Only thing I couldn't figure out is how to create alt text using this method. Oh and the images in that demo don't load for me. – James McMahon May 31 '12 at 18:09
If you clone git://github.com/mojombo/gollum-demo.git and then run `gollum`, you'll see them. :) – Benjamin Oakes May 31 '12 at 19:16
Ah, they have alt text on that demo using `[[file|alt=alt text]]`. – James McMahon May 31 '12 at 20:22
Marking this as the answer, I prefer this relative path method to the method I posted. – James McMahon May 31 '12 at 20:27
It wasn't obvious to git clone what's on the last tab of the wiki, then use regular commands to add a directory for images, add a file, commit, push, and then link to the image. No problem once you do it once, but I think this process could be easily automated on github's side. – justingordon Jun 01 '12 at 01:09
@justingordon Agreed. However, `gollum` is open source. It might be a feature they'd welcome. – Benjamin Oakes Jun 01 '12 at 01:57
One thing I'd add is that I'd never remove the ability to configure files in the git repository as that is in some ways way better than waiting for individual files to upload. I.e., one can put all the images for an article in a directory, and easily get them uploaded. – justingordon Jun 01 '12 at 06:29
The above no longer works. I've forked the above repo and update it, example here https://github.com/thomaswelton/gollum-demo/blob/patch-1/Mordor/Eye-Of-Sauron.md This relative path works `![Eye of Sauron](eye.jpg)` – Thomas Welton May 03 '13 at 20:23
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Maybe I'm missing something... but the `[[wiki syntax]]` works in this wiki that I help with: https://github.com/newhavenrb/conferences/wiki/WindyCityRails-2012 Perhaps you're trying this with a README? – Benjamin Oakes May 03 '13 at 21:23
Worth mentioning that the filename is case sensitive! Eg [[images/foo.jpg]] won't work when your image is named Foo.jpg – Kieran Harper Sep 08 '14 at 08:39
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The wiki syntax is determined by the file extension. `.wiki` uses mediawiki style. `.md` uses markdown style (RyanQ's answer). – Drew Noakes Nov 19 '14 at 03:18
@Thomas Welton the github clone is not available any more – k3b Apr 15 '15 at 07:02
@JamesMcMahon, my answer shows how to add the alt text. – Subfuzion Mar 14 '16 at 17:35
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This answer no longer works, see @Werner's answer below (in brief, use ![text](images/someimage.png) and save - won't show in preview) – edmofro Jan 24 '17 at 03:15

its_me · Answer 3 · 2012-09-26T07:00:11.010

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None of answers seem to work when adding an image in readme.md. I've got a solution though:

If the URL of the image is:

https://github.com/Username/Repository-Name/blob/master/Directory-Inside-Repository/image.png

Replacing blob with raw gives you the URL of the raw image:

https://github.com/Username/Repository-Name/raw/master/Directory-Inside-Repository/image.png

Now, you'd embed the image using normal markdown:

![Image Alt](https://github.com/Username/Repository-Name/raw/master/Directory-Inside-Repository/image.png)

UPDATE: As of now, GitHub also serves raw images from a different sub-domain raw.github.com. So, you can also use:

https://raw.github.com/Username/Repository-Name/master/Directory-Inside-Repository/image.png

EXAMPLE: https://raw.github.com/Automattic/liveblog/master/screenshot-1.png

edited Sep 26 '12 at 07:00

answered Jul 18 '12 at 19:47

its_me

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Awesome... this allowed me to link to an image directly in a GitHub comment. :) https://github.com/mccalltd/AttributeRouting/issues/98#issuecomment-7497261 – Leniel Maccaferri Aug 03 '12 at 23:57
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worked for me thanks. a pity it does not work with relative paths – E Ciotti Feb 04 '13 at 23:43

score 28 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 18 '13 at 07:34

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Relative path work for me like this:

home page of the wiki:

![text](wiki/images/someimage.png)

sub page of the wiki:

![text](images/someimage.png)

Note that when doing a preview the image will not show, I had save it.

answered Feb 18 '13 at 07:34

Werner

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This tip by @Werner is Very important. (Thank you VERY much!) For some reason the home page of your wiki is different from all others, so on the home page you need **wiki/path/foo.ext** where all other pages use **path/foo.ext**. Relative references back to your own repo are much better than absolute references. If you move or clone your project, or modify it offline, everything still works no matter where the repo is. Also note that this ![text](link) syntax is fine for most purposes but if you need to align your image you must use a standard HTML IMG tag. – TonyG Jan 29 '16 at 19:09
Seems this is the more up-to-date answer – albfan Aug 10 '16 at 11:48
What is the branch here? – Jonny Sep 12 '18 at 12:17
_Note that when doing a preview the image will not show, I had save it._ still a very handy tip for those of us who chose not to keep it in mind. – Laurie Stearn Sep 24 '21 at 13:56

score 16 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 21 '13 at 11:32

If you want to quickly upload an image with drag/drop, you can perform the following (albeit hackish):

Create a dummy issue; drag & drop your image there; copy/paste the uploaded markdown image code to your wiki;

After you create the issue once, you can use it any number of times to do this.

Hope this helps anyone looking for a quick fix, without needing to have the image reside in the repo.

score 10 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 22 '17 at 17:10

10

Here is a practical way to do it:

Go to any issue on github
In the comment section you can attach files, just drag/drop, select or paste your image
Copy the code/link displayed in the textarea
Paste it in the wiki
Profit !

You don't even have to create or modify any issue compared to @tiby solution !

answered Feb 22 '17 at 17:10

Jacob Yiendedoi

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Thank you! I wonder why github does not support this functionality on their wiki sites. – Sven Jan 26 '18 at 16:33

score 6 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 06 '12 at 15:44

6

Figured it out.

The url is formatted as follows

https://raw.github.com/wiki/username/project/pathtoimage/imagename.extension

pathtoimage is optional

answered Apr 06 '12 at 15:44

James McMahon

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That works, but is tightly coupled to how GitHub stores files. If they change their paths, it would break. It would also break when running the wiki locally via `gollum`. – Benjamin Oakes May 17 '12 at 00:32

score 5 · Answer 8 · edited May 31 '12 at 18:06

5

James' URL format did not work for me, perhaps it has been changed. I have used:

https://github.com/username/project/wiki/pathtoimage/image.extension

Where pathtoimage is optional.

edited May 31 '12 at 18:06

James McMahon

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answered May 31 '12 at 15:49

Ninjakannon

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@JonathanLeung it is just sample of the syntax for a link it doesn't actually go anywhere – James McMahon Aug 01 '12 at 14:22

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Mar 28 '18 at 03:02

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Finally got the images into repository using the method described by nerdwin and got them to display in the wiki using ![test](test.jpg)

edited Mar 28 '18 at 03:02

Rob

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answered Apr 07 '14 at 16:17

rupweb

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Josh · Answer 10 · 2015-04-03T22:13:16.220

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The following markdown will reference an image in your GitHub repo from within your corresponding GitHub wiki

![My Alt Text](../blob/master/Path/ToAsset/In/Repo.png?raw=true)

The above example assumes that you have the following file structure in your repo

Path
- ToAssets
  - In
    - Repo.png

For a real world example, if I wanted to reference this image in github from the corresponding wiki, I'd use this markdown

![Azure App Settings](../blob/master/TrelloWorld/TrelloWorld.Server/Assets/Azure_AppSettings.png?raw=true)

Caveats

Case matters
If you are on the special Home page of the wiki, you do not need to go up a level with the ../ In my example above, the correct link would be

For Home Page:

![Azure App Settings](blob/master/TrelloWorld/TrelloWorld.Server/Assets/Azure_AppSettings.png?raw=true)

edited Apr 03 '15 at 22:13

answered Apr 03 '15 at 21:18

Josh

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Case matters. Repo.png is not the same as repo.png – Josh Apr 03 '15 at 22:10
If you are on the home page of the wiki, this changes slightly. You need to drop the ../. The link would be (blob/master/Path/ToAsset/In/Repo.png?raw=true) – Josh Apr 03 '15 at 22:11
Does branch of the hosted image matter? – Jonny Sep 12 '18 at 12:34
I haven't tried it, but by looking at the URLs in my sample, I believe it would. In my samples I assume everything is in master. You could presumably just change the word "master" in my sample to whatever branch the image is in. – Josh Oct 03 '18 at 18:42

Subfuzion · Answer 11 · 2019-04-05T04:25:12.710

I put both images and PDFs in my wikis. I clone the wiki and add an images and a files directory, then use the following markdown to embed image links and add file links:

Images:

[[/images/path/to/image.ext|ALT TEXT]]

The leading slash isn't necessary if your wiki pages are all at the root level, but I use subdirectories and an absolute path resolves correctly and keeps things simple.

Files:

[link text](files/path/to/file.ext "ALT TEXT")

Note, no leading slash for the wiki files path to resolve correctly as a link in this format.

I documented this with more detail in a GitHub gist

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Feb 28 '16 at 21:08

1

Use the relative path

the Wiki is located at [repositoryname]/wiki

The files in the repository are located at [repositoryname]/raw/master/[file path in repository]

So just use the relative path: ../raw/master/[file path in repository]

answered Feb 28 '16 at 21:08

Samuel P

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I had to do `../../` in a sub-page, so beware it's relative to the current page path – tutuDajuju Apr 11 '18 at 21:55
If you have no branch named master? – Jonny Sep 12 '18 at 12:20

score 1 · Answer 13 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

The comment from @Drew Noakes to the original question did it for me:

The syntax for the image I wanted to be displayed:

[[/images/imageName.png]]

This image was only displayed when renaming:

wikiPage.md --> wikiPage.wiki

The following folder structure was used in the wiki repository:

repository.wiki
   |--wikiPage.wiki
   |--images
        |--imageName.png

BUT:

The syntax in .wiki differs from .md files.

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Feb 14 '22 at 22:18

1

Since Feb. 2022, you can simply drag and drop, select or paste the file.

That will upload the image to your Wiki pages, and store it in https://user-images.githubusercontent.com

answered Feb 14 '22 at 22:18

VonC

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But if you do a git clone on the wiki the image links will point to that github usercontent URL right? So it's not self contained any more, if you git clone the wiki you can't see the images offline? – pilkch Jun 02 '22 at 05:33
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@pilkch I haven't tested it, but it is possible indeed. – VonC Jun 02 '22 at 08:09

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Mar 04 '14 at 03:20

0

To embed an external image thumbnail, use the following, ![Image](<external link to the image>)

answered Mar 04 '14 at 03:20

delta24

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score 0 · Answer 16 · edited Feb 22 '21 at 12:09

0

Many of the answers didn't work for me, here's what finally worked:

![](../raw/master/Images/ImportantImage.png)

Using the "Markdown" editor mode and a sub-page such as:

https://github.com/project/repo/wiki/MyPage

edited Feb 22 '21 at 12:09

DannyDannyDanny

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answered Apr 16 '20 at 14:23

JohnKoz

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Embedding images inside a GitHub wiki (gollum) repository?

16 Answers16

Use the relative path

Linked