# Consumer Brain

Persistent file storage for the users of your AVCodex agent. Files survive across chat sessions and across agents in your workspace, so a tech, programmer, or client never starts from zero.

Consumer Brain gives every user a persistent file space tied to their account. Files generated during a chat (a redrawn signal-flow diagram, a Q-SYS Lua snippet the agent produced, a punch list export) are saved automatically. Users can browse, organize, and pull those files into new conversations.

> **Warning:** Consumer Brain requires a Studio Pro plan or higher.

## What It Does

| Feature | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| **Persistent storage** | Files survive across multiple chat sessions. |
| **File browser** | Slide-out panel with search, sort, and folder organization. |
| **Inline preview** | View images, PDFs, CSV, JSON, and text without downloading. |
| **Drag into chat** | Reference a stored file in a new conversation by dragging it into the input. |
| **Auto-save** | Files produced by code execution are saved automatically. |
| **Cross-agent access** | Authenticated users see files from sibling agents in the same workspace. |

## Enabling Consumer Brain

**1. Enable Persistent Storage**

Open your agent's **Build** page, scroll to the **Code Execution** section, and toggle on **Enable Persistent Storage**.

**2. Configure Retention (optional)**

Set **File Retention Days** to auto-delete after a window. Default is 0 (files live forever). A managed-services AV firm might set 365 days for client-facing agents and unlimited for internal programmer agents.

**3. Set Storage Limits (optional)**

Set **Max Storage Per User** to cap each user. Default is 0 (unlimited).

## How Users Use It

### File Browser

Users open a slide-out storage panel from the chat interface. They can:

- Browse files with search and sort.
- Create folders (for example "BOS-HQ Refresh", "ACME Hospital", "Reusable Q-SYS Modules").
- Rename and delete files.
- Preview inline (images, PDFs, spreadsheets, text).
- Drag a file into the chat input to reference it in a new conversation.

### Automatic File Saving

When the agent generates a file during a chat (a CSV of all rooms with mismatched firmware, a Markdown punch list, a generated Crestron SIMPL# stub), it lands in persistent storage automatically. The user does not have to download and re-upload it next time.

### Cross-Agent File Sharing

When users authenticate across multiple agents in the same workspace, they see files from sibling agents:

- Cross-agent files show a badge indicating which agent created them.
- Cross-agent files are **read-only** (rename and delete only on the original agent).
- Fact-based memories from sibling agents automatically augment the system prompt.

A field-tech who used the AV-helpdesk agent yesterday and switches to the project-management agent today can drag yesterday's commissioning notes into the new chat without leaving the platform.

#### Controlling Cross-Agent Sharing

**Workspace level:**
- In **HQ Settings -> Consumer Context**, toggle **Consumer Sharing** on or off for the whole workspace.

**Per-agent level:**
- Each agent can opt out via **Consumer Sharing Opt-Out**.
- When opted out, files from that agent are not visible to users in other agents.

## Storage Billing

Consumer Brain storage is metered as part of your plan's usage:

- Storage is measured in MB-months.
- Only applies to authenticated users on Studio Pro or higher.
- Free and lower tiers do not include persistent storage.

## Troubleshooting

**Files not being saved?**
- Verify **Enable Persistent Storage** is on in Build -> Code Execution.
- Check the user has not exceeded the storage quota.

**Cross-agent files not showing?**
- Verify **Consumer Sharing** is on at the workspace level.
- Confirm the agent has not opted out.
- The user must be signed in to both agents.

**File preview not loading?**
- Large files take a moment.
- Signed URLs expire after one hour. Refresh the page if a download link is stale.
- Some binary formats do not support inline preview.

> **Note:** Consumer Brain is part of the persistent storage system. Files generated during code execution are automatically saved when persistent storage is on.

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