diff --git a/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts b/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
index d67fd888..4777f56f 100644
--- a/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import { getAuthor, getFollowedPubkeys } from '@/queries.ts';
 import { booleanParamSchema, fileSchema } from '@/schema.ts';
 import { Storages } from '@/storages.ts';
 import { addTag, deleteTag, findReplyTag, getTagSet } from '@/tags.ts';
-import { uploadFile } from '@/upload.ts';
+import { uploadFile } from '@/utils/upload.ts';
 import { nostrNow } from '@/utils.ts';
 import { createEvent, paginated, paginationSchema, parseBody, updateListEvent } from '@/utils/api.ts';
 import { lookupAccount } from '@/utils/lookup.ts';
@@ -202,7 +202,6 @@ const updateCredentialsSchema = z.object({
 
 const updateCredentialsController: AppController = async (c) => {
   const pubkey = await c.get('signer')?.getPublicKey()!;
-  const uploader = c.get('uploader');
   const body = await parseBody(c.req.raw);
   const result = updateCredentialsSchema.safeParse(body);
 
@@ -221,13 +220,9 @@ const updateCredentialsController: AppController = async (c) => {
     nip05,
   } = result.data;
 
-  if ((avatarFile || headerFile) && !uploader) {
-    return c.json({ error: 'No uploader configured.' }, 500);
-  }
-
   const [avatar, header] = await Promise.all([
-    (avatarFile && uploader) ? uploadFile(uploader, avatarFile, { pubkey }) : undefined,
-    (headerFile && uploader) ? uploadFile(uploader, headerFile, { pubkey }) : undefined,
+    avatarFile ? uploadFile(c, avatarFile, { pubkey }) : undefined,
+    headerFile ? uploadFile(c, headerFile, { pubkey }) : undefined,
   ]);
 
   meta.name = display_name ?? meta.name;
diff --git a/src/controllers/api/media.ts b/src/controllers/api/media.ts
index 101b7767..71b3e782 100644
--- a/src/controllers/api/media.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/api/media.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { AppController } from '@/app.ts';
 import { fileSchema } from '@/schema.ts';
 import { parseBody } from '@/utils/api.ts';
 import { renderAttachment } from '@/views/mastodon/attachments.ts';
-import { uploadFile } from '@/upload.ts';
+import { uploadFile } from '@/utils/upload.ts';
 
 const mediaBodySchema = z.object({
   file: fileSchema,
@@ -14,11 +14,6 @@ const mediaBodySchema = z.object({
 });
 
 const mediaController: AppController = async (c) => {
-  const uploader = c.get('uploader');
-  if (!uploader) {
-    return c.json({ error: 'No uploader configured.' }, 500);
-  }
-
   const pubkey = await c.get('signer')?.getPublicKey()!;
   const result = mediaBodySchema.safeParse(await parseBody(c.req.raw));
   const { signal } = c.req.raw;
@@ -29,7 +24,7 @@ const mediaController: AppController = async (c) => {
 
   try {
     const { file, description } = result.data;
-    const media = await uploadFile(uploader, file, { pubkey, description }, signal);
+    const media = await uploadFile(c, file, { pubkey, description }, signal);
     return c.json(renderAttachment(media));
   } catch (e) {
     console.error(e);
diff --git a/src/upload.ts b/src/utils/upload.ts
similarity index 75%
rename from src/upload.ts
rename to src/utils/upload.ts
index 0d1a085f..c4f2fc58 100644
--- a/src/upload.ts
+++ b/src/utils/upload.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
+import { AppContext } from '@/app.ts';
 import { Conf } from '@/config.ts';
 import { insertUnattachedMedia, UnattachedMedia } from '@/db/unattached-media.ts';
-import { DittoUploader } from '@/interfaces/DittoUploader.ts';
+import { HTTPException } from 'hono';
 interface FileMeta {
   pubkey: string;
   description?: string;
@@ -8,11 +9,18 @@ interface FileMeta {
 
 /** Upload a file, track it in the database, and return the resulting media object. */
 export async function uploadFile(
-  uploader: DittoUploader,
+  c: AppContext,
   file: File,
   meta: FileMeta,
   signal?: AbortSignal,
 ): Promise<UnattachedMedia> {
+  const uploader = c.get('uploader');
+  if (!uploader) {
+    throw new HTTPException(500, {
+      res: c.json({ error: 'No uploader configured.' }),
+    });
+  }
+
   const { pubkey, description } = meta;
 
   if (file.size > Conf.maxUploadSize) {