Setting up the agent

The companyFILES tools are available in every chat. For anything beyond a single file it is still worth having a dedicated agent: it already carries the Files tool and the matching skills, so the prompt only has to state the goal. It is created like any other agent under Agents → Create new agent.

Note

The screenshots on this page show the German interface, because that is the language of the recording they were taken from. The product interface is localized – in an English session the labels appear in English.

Basic settings

Field	Recommendation
Name	a descriptive name, for example the purpose of the agent
What this agent does	short description; optional
AI model	a small, fast model is sufficient — the work consists mostly of tool calls
Category	General, unless a dedicated category exists
Instructions	keep them short; the rules come from the skills

A companyFILES agent does not need long system instructions. What works well are two context variables, inserted via the plus icon next to the Instructions field and filled in at call time:

Variable	Purpose
{{current_user}}	who is requesting the document – ends up in the sender field of a letter, for instance
{{current_datetime}}	date and time for document headers, minutes and file names

The Files tool

The Files tool is added under Tools → Add. It is an MCP server and brings a whole set of tools with it. Exactly how many depends on which extensions are active in your environment; the counter in the sidebar shows the number next to the name, in the screenshot as Files · 56. The dialog shows the connection state (Connected) and below it the list of tools on this server, in which individual tools can be deselected – or all of them at once.

Every row has a clock icon next to the name. It marks lazy loading: the tool is only pulled into the context when it is needed. That saves context and makes sense for nearly every tool. The exception is help – it stays permanently active so the agent can look up the remaining tools in the first place.

The tools at a glance

Excel: create_excel, create_excel_from_csv, create_excel_from_json, create_excel_advanced, modify_excel, read_excel, read_excel_detailed, create_excel_from_template, fill_excel_template

Word and OpenDocument: create_word, create_word_from_html, create_word_from_json, read_word, read_word_content, append_to_word, replace_word_content, create_word_from_template, create_word_from_template_with_images, create_odt, create_odt_from_html, create_odt_from_template

PDF: create_pdf, create_pdf_from_html, read_pdf, list_pdf_form_templates, fill_pdf_form, fill_and_flatten_pdf_form, read_pdf_form_fields, fill_pdf_form_fields

PowerPoint: create_powerpoint, read_powerpoint_slides, append_slides_to_powerpoint, update_powerpoint_slide, create_powerpoint_from_template, describe_pptx_template, create_powerpoint_from_layouts, add_slides_from_layouts, set_powerpoint_slide_fields

Text, conversion, archives: create_text_file, convert_document, get_supported_conversions, create_zip_from_stored_files

File management: upload_file, download_stored_file, list_documents, search_documents, list_my_files, get_settings, open_companyfiles_ui

Templates: list_templates, attach_template_to_chat – the latter attaches a copy of a template to the chat so the code interpreter can edit it; see Handing a template to the code interpreter

Images: view_image – the agent looks at a stored image (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF) itself, such as an uploaded photo or an exported chart, and can describe or analyze it

Visualization: create_chart_document, embed_chart_in_document, show_interactive_chart, show_interactive_diagram, show_interactive_map

Help: help

In addition, some tools are only available with an extra extension:

Extension	Tools	Description
Reading further formats	read_file, save_file_part, convert_to_markdown	reading e-mails, archives and older formats, saving attachments as documents of their own, storing whole files as Markdown – see Reading e-mails, archives and older formats
CAD, BIM and 3D	describe_model, query_model, get_model_element, aggregate_model, model_areas, create_model_report, render_model_view, show_model_viewer, convert_model, edit_model	analyzing, viewing, converting and editing models – see CAD, BIM and 3D

Not available in all environments

Whether this feature is available in your environment is decided by your organization. If you have questions, contact your administrator.

Skills

companyFILES comes with a set of bundled skills. They contain no content, only the rules for working with the tools – which tool is responsible for which format, in what order to work, and how to check a result. They are selected in the agent’s Skills section.

Skill	Responsible for
excel-skill	Excel spreadsheets, formulas and formatting
word-odt-skill	Word and OpenDocument documents
pdf-skill	PDF creation and PDF forms
powerpoint-skill	creating and reworking presentations
templates-skill	producing documents from templates
charts-diagrams-skill	charts, diagrams and maps
convert-skill	conversion between formats
file-management-skill	storing, searching and downloading files
settings-ui-skill	reading the settings and applying them to documents

The agent can use all skills of the organization, none, or only selected ones. For a document agent, picking the companyFILES skills explicitly is enough.

Note

Every skill is documented individually in this documentation – the table links straight there. Anyone building their own agent can read up on which skill prescribes which way of working.

Both are visible in the chat: above the answer it says how many tools were used and where they came from – for example “2 tools used · skill, Files” – followed by the skill that ran and the active tool.

Maximum agent steps

Under Advanced → Basics you find the field for the maximum agent steps. It limits how many tool calls an agent may make in one pass. Without a value of its own, your environment’s default applies – 150 steps in CompanyGPT. That is usually enough even for larger rebuilds such as reworking a whole presentation.

Note

A value of its own replaces the default – downwards too. So only enter a value if the agent hits the limit during very extensive changes, and then choose a value above 150. If the agent hits the limit mid-way, the document is left half-finished.

Sub-agents and handoffs to other agents (both Beta) are not required for companyFILES.

Combining other tools

companyFILES can be combined with other tools on the same agent. In the map example a web search is added: first the agent researches the locations, then it plots them via show_interactive_map. Without web search it only knows the places named in the prompt.

To work with attach_template_to_chat, the agent also needs Run Code, because the attached template is edited by the code interpreter.

Next: Creating documents.