AI
Files.com provides built-in AI features and a way to connect external AI applications to your site. These tools can work with files, logs, permissions, configuration, and user activity within the access granted to them.
There are three ways to use AI with Files.com. The AI Assistant is interactive: open a chat, describe what you want, and the AI works through it step by step. AI Tasks run saved prompts on a schedule or file trigger. The MCP Server connects an external AI client to Files.com through the Model Context Protocol.
The AI Assistant and AI Tasks are built into Files.com. They reason through a sequence of steps, call the appropriate tools, and produce results based on what they find on your site. The difference is whether a person is present for the work. With MCP, the external AI application controls the interaction and uses the Files.com tools available to the authenticated account or session.
For the built-in AI Assistant and AI Tasks, file contents stay on your site and are not transmitted to AI providers. The AI reads metadata, logs, and configuration data to do its work, but file contents are never sent externally. Your interactions are not used to train AI models. Chat sessions are retained for 30 days. When you connect an external AI application through MCP, that application's terms and data-handling practices also apply.
Security and Privacy
The privacy details in this section apply to the built-in AI Assistant and AI Tasks. Files.com processes those AI interactions in accordance with the Files.com Privacy Policy. Your use of AI features is subject to the Files.com Terms of Service. When you open the AI Assistant, it displays a notice about AI limitations and accuracy.
AI Providers and Model Training
Files.com uses third-party AI providers Anthropic, OpenAI, and AWS to power its AI features. Our agreements with those providers ensure that your data is handled in accordance with the Files.com Privacy Policy.
Your inputs are not used to train AI models.
Files.com employees can access chat contents for quality control and improvement of AI features.
Data Retention
Files.com retains chat session records and messages for 30 days.
Audit Logging
All actions the AI takes on your behalf are recorded in the audit log under your user account. They appear alongside your own direct actions with no distinction in how they are attributed.
AI Assistant
The AI Assistant is a chat interface built into the Files.com web app. Any logged-in user can ask questions about their account, investigate logs, generate reports, and take actions within their own permission scope.
The assistant generally shows you exactly what it plans to do and waits for your confirmation before applying any change. No setup is required.
If you are new to Files.com or setting up a site for the first time, the Onboarding page in the web app uses the AI Assistant to walk you through common setup work. It is available to Site Administrators, and only when the AI Assistant is enabled.
For recurring workflows that run on a schedule or trigger automatically, use AI Tasks instead.
AI Tasks
AI Tasks are saved prompts that run the AI automatically on a schedule or when file activity occurs. Use them to automate repeatable work that requires judgment: auditing folder permissions, verifying user offboarding, checking partner configurations, reviewing login activity, screening incoming files for sensitive content, or producing compliance reports.
AI Tasks complement Automations. Automations move and route files based on rules. AI Tasks handle work that requires reading and reasoning, whether that is understanding what is inside a file or drawing conclusions from logs, configurations, and user data across your site.
MCP Server
The MCP Server connects external AI clients like Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, and others directly to your Files.com site through the Model Context Protocol. The actions available to the AI depend on whether it authenticates through a Files.com login session or an API key and on the permissions of the associated account.
AI Chat Logs
AI Chat Logs show every AI Assistant session and AI Task run on your site. Site Administrators can open any session and read the full transcript of what was asked and what the AI did. Logs are retained for 30 days and are available to Site Administrators only.
When to Use Each AI Feature
Use the AI Assistant when you want to ask a question, investigate something, or make a one-time change and want to see what will happen before it happens. Use AI Tasks when that same kind of work follows a predictable pattern and needs to run automatically, without anyone remembering to trigger it or reviewing the plan first.
Use the MCP Server when you want to bring your own AI client instead of using the one built into Files.com, or need a workflow that runs without an active user session, like an automated process under precisely scoped API key access.
AI Settings
Enabling and Disabling the AI Assistant covers how Site Administrators disable the AI Assistant for specific user types or turn it off entirely for the site. AI Tasks require the AI Assistant to be enabled. Turning off the AI Assistant for the site automatically turns off existing AI Tasks.
Disabling all AI features also blocks the Remote MCP Server.