Add a file upload to an AI agent

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read

    • Upload files for analysis by an AI agent in AI Agent Studio to grant your AI agent access to specialized knowledge.

    Before you begin

    Role required: sn_aia.admin

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to All > AI Agent Studio > Create and manage > AI agents.
    2. Open the AI agent that you want to add a file upload to and navigate to the Add tools and information section.
    3. In the Add tool drop-down list, select File upload.
    4. On the form, fill in the fields.
      Table 1. Add file upload form
      Fields Description
      Name

      Name that you want to specify for your file upload.
      Description Description of the file upload and what it’s going to do to assist your AI agent.
      Note:
      This description is sent to the large language model (LLM).
      Execution mode Mode of execution for your selected file upload:
      • Supervised: Inputs from your human agent are required during the execution of this uploaded file while the AI agent runs.
      • Autonomous: Doesn't require any input from your live agent during the execution of this uploaded file while the AI agent runs.
      Display output Permission to display the output of the execution in the Now Assist panel or in Virtual Agent:
      • Yes
      • No
      If you want the AI agent to work in Off Glide architecture with Premium Chat experience, you must turn-on the Display output toggle. When the toggle is turned-on, you can add widgets that can be used in assistants built with Premium Chat experiences. The widget configuration includes:
      • Widget: Defines the display output to render the content in a better user experience. You can select the widget from the drop-down.
      • Require widget transformation: An additional LLM call is required to transform the raw tool. If you choose to skip this transformation step, the tool output will be directly mapped to the widget.
        • Yes
        • No
      • Display refined widget message: Refines the widget message when configured.
        • Yes
        • No
      Note:
      The display output as a toggle is exclusively available for the Premium Chat experience when the Off Glide Conversation Server plugin (com.glide.cs.offglide) is installed. If the plugin is not installed, you will continue to access the standard display output options.
      Attachments For analysis by an AI agent, attach up to 5 files with a maximum size of 5 MB each in these file formats: PDF, DOCX, or TXT formats.
      Note:
      A user who interacts with the AI agent with the file upload tool can see the information contained within the files.
      Advanced settings
      Select an output transformation format Style for the LLM to present the results as it passes information between tools and to other agents. Out transformation formats:
      • None
      • Concise
      • Paragraph
      • Summary
      • Custom
      Write processing messages for users Message to display to users during tool execution.
      • In-progress message: Write an in-progress message to be displayed to end-users while the tool is running.
      • Completion message: Write a completion message to be displayed to end-users once the tool finishes running.
    5. Select Add.
      A file upload is added to the AI agent.