cargo-content

Manage the files a Cargo workspace holds — upload knowledge (PDF, CSV, text) and build native or connector-backed libraries agents retrieve from (RAG), and use files as plain storage: write and read by path, list a folder, hand out a signed or public link. Triggers: "upload this PDF", "add these docs as knowledge", "build a knowledge base", "sync our help center into Cargo", "what files are in the workspace", "index this folder", "attach our pricing sheet", "store this file", "save the report somewhere", "give me a link to the file", "make this file public". Skip when: wiring the file or library into an agent — use cargo-ai; uploading a CSV that drives a batch run — that is a workspace-management file upload.

Cargo CLI — Content

Workspace files: upload and organize them (PDFs, CSVs, text) and group or sync them into libraries — the knowledge resources that ground agent responses (retrieval-augmented generation, RAG). Files are also plain storage: write one at a path, read it back, list a folder, and hand out a link, from the CLI, the HTTP objects API, a hosted worker, a workflow node, or an agent — see Files as storage.

New top-level domain (CLI ≥ 1.0.19). Files and libraries moved out of the ai domain into the content domain — cargo-ai content file … and cargo-ai content library …. The old cargo-ai ai file … commands no longer exist; an unknown command error means you're on the old path.

For attaching a file or library to an agent (via the release resources array), use cargo-ai. For folders that organize files, use cargo-workspace-management (cargo-ai workspaceManagement folder …). For batch-run input files (CSVs uploaded to drive a batch), that's a different surface — cargo-ai workspaceManagement file upload — documented in cargo-workspace-management.

See references/examples/files.md for end-to-end file, library, and attach-to-agent examples. See references/objects.md for files as storage: the path model, storage settings and their per-surface defaults, signed and public links, the context mirror, and the HTTP / worker / node / agent surfaces. See references/response-shapes.md for full JSON response structures. See references/troubleshooting.md for common errors and how to fix them.

Bootstrap

Already signed in (cargo-ai whoami returns a workspace)? Skip to the next section.

bash

npm install -g @cargo-ai/cli            # no global install? prefix every command with `npx @cargo-ai/cli`
cargo-ai login --email [e-mail]  # emailed code, no browser; creates the account on first use
                                        # alternatives: --oauth (browser) · --token <api-token> (CI)
cargo-ai whoami                         # confirm the active workspace before any write

Every command prints JSON to stdout; failures exit non-zero with {"errorMessage": "..."}. Anything that creates a run or a batch is async — pass --wait-until-finished or poll the matching get. When the full skill bundle is installed, ../cargo/references/prerequisites.md adds the CLI version pin, token scopes, and the admin-only surface.

Discover resources first

bash

cargo-ai content file list                 # all uploaded files (uuid, name, contentType, size)
cargo-ai content library list              # knowledge libraries (native or connector-backed)

Files

Upload files (PDFs, CSVs, text) so an agent can ground its responses in specific knowledge. The upload response includes the uuid you reference when attaching the file to an agent release (see cargo-ai).

bash

# List all files
cargo-ai content file list

# Get a single file
cargo-ai content file get <file-uuid>

# Upload a file (optionally straight into a folder)
cargo-ai content file upload --file ./knowledge-base.pdf
cargo-ai content file upload --file ./knowledge-base.pdf --folder-uuid <folder-uuid>

# Update a file's name or folder
cargo-ai content file update --uuid <file-uuid> --name "Q1 Research Notes"
cargo-ai content file update --uuid <file-uuid> --folder-uuid <folder-uuid>

# Remove a file
cargo-ai content file remove <file-uuid>

Content files in the context repo. A file with mirrorToContext: true — the default for upload, web-app uploads and defineFile — is committed and pushed into the context repository under .files/<path> (commit content(mirror): upsert <name>; over 10 MB, a JSON metadata sidecar instead of the bytes), so a command in the context runtime sandbox can read it — e.g. cargo-ai context runtime execute --command ls --args '["-1",".files"]' — and anyone with access to that repo can too. Path writes (put, the objects API, workers, nodes, agents) default to mirrorToContext: false and stay out of git. .files/ is read-only from the context runtime (deniedPath); change those files with content file here. See cargo-context.

Files as storage (paths and links)

A file's path is its folder chain plus its name (reports/2026-q3/summary.pdf). Writing to a path creates missing folders and overwrites the newest file of that name in place (same uuid, settings kept unless you pass new ones).

bash

cargo-ai content file put reports/2026-q3/summary.pdf --file ./summary.pdf   # → { file, path }; any size
#   --content-type <mime> (guessed from the extension) · --index none|vectorStore (none)
#   --visibility private|public (private) · --mirror-to-context (off)
cargo-ai content file ls reports/ --limit 100            # prefix match, ordered by path; --limit ≤ 1000, --cursor <nextCursor>
cargo-ai content file download reports/2026-q3/summary.pdf --out ./copy.pdf
cargo-ai content file url reports/2026-q3/summary.pdf --expires 3600 [--download]   # → { url, expiresAt, publicUrl? }
cargo-ai content file visibility reports/2026-q3/summary.pdf public   # private revokes the public link at once
cargo-ai content file rm reports/2026-q3/summary.pdf

Option	upload / web app / defineFile	put / objects API / worker / writeFile node	Agent write
indexMode (--index)	vectorStore	none	always none
mirrorToContext	true	false	always false
visibility	private	private	always private

The same files over HTTP are objects — PUT / GET (?meta=true for details) / DELETE /v1/content/objects/<path>, GET /v1/content/objects?prefix= — and from a worker createCargoObjects(env) (@cargo-ai/worker-sdk); in a play, the writeFile / readFile / getFileUrl nodes; on an agent, a writable folder (capability_file_write). All of it in references/objects.md.

Libraries

A library groups files. Agent release resources take file or folder items, not a library UUID, so an agent reaches a library through its files or the folder they land in. There are two kinds:

• native — workspace-managed collections of uploaded files (not creatable from the CLI: library create is connector-only).
• connector — synced from an external source (e.g. a help center or knowledge base) through an unstructured-data extractor (--extractor-slug). Get the connectorUuid from cargo-connection.

bash

# List libraries (filter by kind or connector)
cargo-ai content library list
cargo-ai content library list --kind native
cargo-ai content library list --kind connector --connector-uuid <connector-uuid>

# Get a single library
cargo-ai content library get <library-uuid>

# Create a connector-backed library
cargo-ai content library create \
  --name "Help Center" \
  --connector-uuid <connector-uuid> \
  --extractor-slug <extractor-slug> \
  --folder-uuid <folder-uuid> \
  --config '{}'

# Update / remove
cargo-ai content library update --uuid <library-uuid> --name "Updated Name"
cargo-ai content library remove <library-uuid>

Critical rules

• A signed URL is unauthenticated. Anyone holding it opens the file until it expires (default 3600 s, max 10800 s). A public file adds a stable no-auth link, https://api.getcargo.io/files/public/<uuid>/<name>, that works until the file is made private or deleted. Hand out either only when the user asked for the file to be shared, and never for record-level personal data.
• upload and put default differently. upload indexes (vectorStore, sent to OpenAI) and mirrors into the context repo; put does neither. A type OpenAI won't index (video, for one) is still stored under vectorStore, unindexed, rather than failing the upload. A put file is not searchable by an agent — capability_file_search skips it and capability_file_analyze refuses it — until written with --index vectorStore.
• A mirrored file is in git. mirrorToContext: true commits the file to the context repository under .files/; pass --index none and keep mirroring off (put) for files that should stay in Content.
• A path write overwrites without asking. The newest file of that name in that folder is replaced in place, and its uuid (and every agent resource pointing at it) now serves the new bytes. A read-only (connector) folder refuses with folderReadOnly.

Attaching to an agent

Files and libraries are knowledge resources — they do nothing until attached to an agent via that agent's draft release resources array, then deployed. That wiring lives in cargo-ai (ai release update-draft --resources … → ai release deploy-draft). See references/examples/files.md for the upload → attach → deploy sequence.

Help

Every command supports --help:

bash

cargo-ai content file upload --help
cargo-ai content library create --help