OrbitPilot Files — the folder the AI reads

What it is

“OrbitPilot Files” is a special folder in your File Library. It is your AI reading zone: only files you put inside this folder (and inside any subfolders you make within it) are read by the OrbitPilot AI. Anything you keep outside it stays private from the AI.

How you see it in the File Library (redesign, 2026-08)

• A prominent 🤖 card on the home page and a sidebar quick link, both with a live “AI can see N files” count — the same number the AI pipeline uses.
• An explainer banner appears anywhere inside the folder (subfolders included), so you always know you are in the reading zone.
• Every file the AI can read carries a small 🤖 badge in Browse and Search.

How to use it

• Let the AI read a file — move or upload it into the “OrbitPilot Files” folder (☑ Select → Move works from any folder).
• Keep a file private — keep it anywhere else. The AI won't read it.
• Organise — create subfolders inside (e.g. “Contracts”, “Notes”); everything in them is read too. Your subfolders are your own: you can move or delete them, which changes what the AI can read.
• Reading files uses AI credits — keep only what the AI should know.

Why the folder is protected

The root folder itself is system-managed (🔒): it can't be renamed, moved, or deleted, so your AI always has a stable place to read from. Files in the Recycle Bin are never read, even if they came from this folder.

For developers

Provisioned by filemgmt.models.get_or_create_orbitpilot_folder(user) (ORBITPILOT_FOLDER_NAME = "OrbitPilot Files", is_protected=True under the Apps Drive). The pipeline contract is filemgmt.models.orbitpilot_visible_files_qs(user) — standalone (blink__isnull=True), non-recycled files in the folder subtree — consumed by orbitpilot/pipeline/extract.py::_extract_files and the workspace snapshot count. The UI surfacing lives in filemgmt/views.py (ai_folder_id/ai_file_count/ current_in_ai/f.ai_visible context) and templates/filemgmt/partials/_ai_banner.html; subfolder-creation exceptions in filemgmt/services.py::can_create_subfolder (OrbitPilot Files + Uploads). Guard tests: filemgmt/tests.py (OrbitPilotFolderProtectionTests, HomeHubAndAiUxTests).