Consumer Brain
Persistent file storage for consumers that works across chat sessions and apps in your workspace.
Consumer Brain gives your users a persistent file storage space that lives across chat sessions. Files generated during conversations, uploaded documents, and data outputs are saved automatically — consumers can browse, organize, and reference them in future chats.
Consumer Brain is available on every plan. It stores files for authenticated consumers only.
What It Does
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Persistent storage | Files survive across multiple chat sessions |
| File browser | Slide-out My Files panel with search, sort, and type filters |
| Inline preview | View images, PDFs, CSV, JSON, and text files without downloading |
| Attach to chat | Reference stored files in new conversations |
| Auto-save | Files generated by code execution are saved automatically |
| Cross-app access | Authenticated users see files from other apps in your workspace |
Enabling Consumer Brain
Go to your app’s Capabilities tab (under Brain) → Code Execution card. Toggle on Persistent file storage.
With persistent storage on, two more fields appear under the toggle. Set File retention days to delete files your AI generated (code outputs, downloaded pages) after that many days. Files a user uploads are never deleted by retention. Default is 0 (keep forever). The cleanup runs every hour, so a file can outlive its cutoff by up to an hour.
Set Max storage per consumer (in MB) to cap how much each user can store in this app. When a user is at the cap, new uploads to My Files are refused with a “Storage quota exceeded” message. Files your AI generates during a chat are still saved. Default is 0 (unlimited).
How Consumers Use It
File Browser
Consumers open My Files from the chat menu to see their stored files in a slide-out panel. They can:
- Browse files with search and sort options
- Upload files directly into storage
- Rename and delete files
- Preview files inline (images, PDFs, CSV, JSON, text)
- Attach a file to the chat with the Attach to chat action, or type
@in the chat input to pick a stored file
Automatic File Saving
When your AI generates files during a conversation (charts, reports, code outputs), they’re automatically saved to the consumer’s persistent storage if enabled. The consumer doesn’t need to manually download and re-upload.
Cross-App File Sharing
When consumers authenticate across multiple apps in your workspace, they can see files from sibling apps:
- Cross-app files show with a badge indicating which app created them
- Cross-app files are read-only (rename and delete only available on the original app)
- Fact-based memories from other apps automatically augment the system prompt
Controlling Cross-App Sharing
Three switches control this sharing, and all of them must allow it:
- Workspace: Workspace Settings → Consumer sharing, toggle Share consumer context across apps. Turns sharing on or off for every app in the workspace.
- HQ: if the workspace has an HQ, HQ Settings → Options → Consumer sharing. Turning it off also stops sharing for the HQ’s whole workspace. The switch only appears on an HQ that is linked to a workspace.
- Per app: in the app’s Capabilities tab, open the Consumer Sharing card and turn off Share consumer context across apps to keep that app’s files to itself.
All three are on by default.
When an app is opted out, files from that app won’t be visible to consumers using other apps, and that app sees no files from its siblings. The opt-out applies to everyone, including workspace members testing their own apps.
Storage Billing
Consumer Brain storage is metered as part of your plan’s usage:
- Storage is calculated in MB-months
- Only applies to authenticated consumers
Troubleshooting
Files not being saved?
- Verify Persistent file storage is toggled on in Capabilities → Code Execution
- Uploads refused with “Storage quota exceeded”? The user is at Max storage per consumer. Raise the cap, or set it to 0 for unlimited
Cross-app files not showing?
- Verify Consumer sharing is on in Workspace Settings and, if the workspace has an HQ, in HQ Settings → Options
- Check the app hasn’t opted out of sharing
- Consumer must be authenticated (signed in) on both apps
File preview not loading?
- Large files may take a moment to load
- Signed URLs expire after 1 hour — refresh the page if a download link has expired
- Some binary formats may not support inline preview
Consumer Brain is part of the persistent storage system. Files generated during code execution are automatically saved when enabled.
Sharing files across groups? Consumers can share Consumer Brain files with a Circle — a persistent, shared memory space where multiple members and connected AI agents all read the same context. Circles complement Consumer Brain: Brain is your personal storage; Circles are the team’s shared notebook.