Let's Build: background remover with Transloadit

Kevin van Zonneveld

Co-founder · Amsterdam, The Netherlands · Show bio

Background removal is one of the most popular file-processing workflows for e-commerce, marketing, and design teams. With Transloadit, the core pipeline is just a single step.

What we’re building

• Accept a product or portrait image
• Remove the background with 🤖 /image/bgremove
• Output a transparent PNG

Pipeline overview

Image ──▶ /image/bgremove (png output)

Assembly snippet

const assembly = await transloadit.createAssembly({
  params: {
    steps: {
      remove_background: {
        robot: '/image/bgremove',
        use: ':original',
        format: 'png',
        result: true,
      },
    },
  },
  files: {
    image: filePath,
  },
  waitForCompletion: true,
})

Try the example app

The runnable version of this post lives at example_apps/background-remover/run.ts.

node example_apps/background-remover/run.ts

Suggested inputs for visuals

Use the bundled samples or swap in your own images:

• _assets/demos/inputs/group-of-students.jpg
• _assets/demos/inputs/jewelry.jpg
• _assets/demos/inputs/man-standing-on-balcony.jpg

Next steps

• Add resizing or thumbnail steps after background removal.
• Store results in S3 or another storage provider robot.
• Wrap the flow in an Uppy uploader for instant UI.