FileAccessProvider Class

Definition

public sealed class FileAccessProvider : Microsoft.Agents.AI.AIContextProvider, IDisposable

type FileAccessProvider = class
    inherit AIContextProvider
    interface IDisposable

Public NotInheritable Class FileAccessProvider
Inherits AIContextProvider
Implements IDisposable

Inheritance

Object

AIContextProvider

FileAccessProvider

Implements

IDisposable

Remarks

The FileAccessProvider gives agents the ability to work with files in a folder that the user has granted access to. Unlike FileMemoryProvider, which provides session-scoped memory that may be isolated per session, FileAccessProvider operates on a shared, persistent folder whose contents are visible across sessions and agents. This makes it suitable for reading input data, writing output artifacts, and working with files that have a lifetime beyond any single agent session.

File access is mediated through a AgentFileStore abstraction, allowing pluggable backends (in-memory, local file system, remote blob storage, etc.).

This provider exposes the following tools to the agent:

• file_access_write — Write a file with the given name and content.
• file_access_read — Read the content of a file by name.
• file_access_delete — Delete a file by name.
• file_access_ls — List the direct child files and subdirectories of a directory.
• file_access_grep — Recursively search file contents using a regular expression pattern.
• file_access_replace — Replace occurrences of a substring within a file.
• file_access_replace_lines — Replace whole lines within a file.

When DisableWriteTools is set, only the read-only tools (file_access_read, file_access_ls, and file_access_grep) are exposed.

By default, all of these tools require approval: each is exposed as an ApprovalRequiredAIFunction. Approval can be disabled per group via DisableReadOnlyToolApproval (read, ls, and grep) and DisableWriteToolApproval (write, delete, replace, and replace_lines).

To auto-approve these tools without prompting, use the ToolApprovalAgent and add one of the provided rules to AutoApprovalRules:

• ReadOnlyToolsAutoApprovalRule — auto-approves only the read-only tools (read, ls, and grep), while still prompting for the tools that modify the store (write, delete, replace, and replace_lines).
• AllToolsAutoApprovalRule — auto-approves every file access tool, including the tools that modify the store.

For example, to auto-approve all file access tools:

builder.UseToolApproval(new ToolApprovalAgentOptions
{
    AutoApprovalRules = [FileAccessProvider.AllToolsAutoApprovalRule],
});