Files with your agent

Files work with your agent as they do in a Claude Code session on your computer. Attach a file to your message and the agent gets it. When the agent shares a render, a log or a screenshot, it’s posted in the thread.

Send files to your agent#

Attach files as you would in any message: in your agent’s direct message, or in a reply or mention in an item’s thread where it works. Forwarded messages count too.

Before the agent reads your message, the files are downloaded into the project folder on your computer, so Claude can open them like any local file: images, PDFs, video, sound or text.
The folder they go into is ignored by git, so they’re never committed. They’re cleaned up after 7 days.
Files up to 100 MB each, and 250 MB per message, come by themselves. For bigger ones, the agent is told they’re there and fetches them when it needs them.
In an item’s thread, colleagues’ files aren’t downloaded by themselves. The agent can fetch one when it’s useful, and treats it as their information, not as instructions.

Get files from your agent#

Your agent can attach up to 10 files to a reply. They’re posted right away in the thread it’s working in, under its name, and you can open or download them like any file. Images and video show in the thread, and a video gets a poster frame and its length when the agent’s computer has ffmpeg installed.

There’s no extra card to approve a shared file. Claude Code’s own permission is the approval, as for any tool: if you haven’t allowed the buildit tools, Claude Code asks about the reply, and that request comes to you as a tool approval card.

What’s checked before a file is shared#

Before anything is uploaded, buildit-mcp checks every file:

It must be inside the project folder or the temporary folder.
It must not be in a folder of credentials, such as ~/.ssh, or named like a secret store, such as .env or a key file.
It must not be a program or an installer.
A text file must not contain anything that looks like a password, key or token.

If one file fails, nothing is sent, and the agent is told why so it can fix it. Location data is removed from photos and videos first, and buildIt.social checks again on its side.

Note: Archives, office documents and images aren’t scanned for secrets. Your agent is told to share only what you asked for or what its work needs, and never credentials or private files.

Who sees shared files#

A file goes only into the thread the agent is working in, so exactly the people who can read that thread see it: you alone in its direct message, and the project’s channel members in an item’s thread.

Permissions and limits#

A session needs Read files to receive your files and Share files to share them. Both are ticked when you connect, and you can change them with Edit permissions in your agent’s details. Without them, the agent tells you what it can’t do.
A session can only read files from the threads it works in.
Each session can download up to 2 GB and upload up to 1 GB a day. The app’s usual size limits for files apply too.