--- title: "AI Activate - Overview" slug: "ai-activate-overview" description: "Connect your files to AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Copiliot with Nasuni AI Activate, enabling permission-aware, read-only access for tailored responses." updated: 2026-10-13T20:46:05Z published: 2026-10-13T20:46:05Z canonical: "docs.nasuni.com/ai-activate-overview" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nasuni.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AI Activate - Overview Nasuni AI Activate connects your organization's files in Nasuni to an MCP-compatible AI tool, such as Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT, or Microsoft Copilot. After AI Activate is set up, people in your organization can ask questions in plain language, and their AI tool draws on the content of your files to inform the tool’s answers, within the limits of what each person has permission to access. This article explains how AI Activate works, the steps to configure and use AI Activate, and the key terms used throughout this documentation. ## How AI Activate works AI Activate makes the content of the files you choose available to your AI tool through a connection point that the tool connects to. When a user asks a question, their AI tool sends a request to AI Activate, and AI Activate returns relevant content for the tool to answer from. A few characteristics shape how AI Activate behaves: - AI Activate is permission-aware. AI Activate evaluates each file against the requesting user's permissions and returns only content which that user is allowed to see. Thus, two people asking the same question might receive different results. - AI Activate is read-only. AI Activate reads from your files but never writes back to Nasuni. If your AI tool creates a new document from what the tool finds, save that document into Nasuni the way you normally would. - You choose what data is available. AI Activate works only over the volumes and paths you select. Nothing is available to your AI tool until you scope a volume, activate it, and turn on MCP access for it. - You bring your own AI tool. AI Activate provides the connection; you supply an MCP-compatible AI tool. ## Who does what Configuring AI Activate is the job of a Nasuni customer administrator. As the administrator, you run the setup in the [Nasuni Portal](http://portal.nasuni.com), and you can delegate parts of the work within your organization, for example, asking a colleague in IT to connect the AI tool. When AI Activate is running, you share access with your end users. Each user connects their own AI tool and signs in with their own account, so each person sees results scoped to their own permissions. There are no separate AI Activate roles to assign: if a user can sign in to Nasuni Portal, they can use AI Activate. ## Key terms These terms appear throughout this documentation: **Volume Inventory.** A catalog of every file in a connected volume, covering each file's name, path, and basic attributes, but not the file’s content. Nasuni builds the inventory so you can see what a volume holds and decide what to put in scope. **Scope.** The set of paths within a volume that you make available to AI Activate, defined by the folders you include and exclude. **Activation.** The process by which AI Activate reads the content of the files in your scope so that your AI tool can draw on what those files contain. **Content Activated File.** A file whose content has been activated. Content Activated Files are what your AI tool can answer from, and these files are the basis on which AI Activate is billed. **Metadata Only File.** A file that stays in scope and remains visible to your AI tool by the file’s name, the folder it is in, and its attributes, but whose content is not activated. Metadata Only Files are included at no charge. A file is Metadata Only when its format does not support content activation, when it is larger than 100 MB, when its content exists only as an image (such as a scanned PDF), or when activation is not possible for the file. See the [supported file types reference](/v1/docs/ai-activate-supported-file-types) for details. **MCP access.** The setting that makes an activated volume available to your AI tool. Turning on MCP access is a separate step that you take after activation completes. **Activate Query.** A single tool call from your AI tool to AI Activate. One question can lead your AI tool to make several tool calls, so one question can use more than one Activate Query. Your subscription includes an allocation of Activate Queries. See [Monitor your usage](/v1/docs/ai-activate-monitor-your-usage) for how the allocation works. ## The setup and use journey Licensing comes first. You acquire your license with your Nasuni account team, not in the Portal. After your account is licensed for AI Activate, you configure and use AI Activate in the following steps. Each step has its own article. 1. [Run an inventory and scope your content](/v1/docs/ai-activate-volume-inventory-and-scoping). Choose the volumes to inventory, select the paths to include and exclude, and review the estimated capacity that you might need. 2. [Activate your content](/v1/docs/ai-activate-activate-your-content). Activate the files in your scope. Activation requires purchased capacity; see [Two ways to size and buy your capacity](/v1/docs/ai-activate-overview#two-ways-to-size-and-buy-your-capacity1) below. 3. [Turn on MCP access](/v1/docs/ai-activate-enable-mcp-access-and-connect-your-ai-tool) and connect your AI tool. Make the activated volume available, optionally set an MCP Query Scope to filter results, then connect your AI tool, authenticate, and run your first query. From there, you and your users work with AI Activate day to day: 1. [Ask effective questions with AI Activate](/v1/docs/ai-activate-asking-effective-questions). Guidance for your end users on getting good results, and on what AI Activate is and is not built for. 2. [Monitor your usage](/v1/docs/ai-activate-monitor-your-usage), [change your setup](/v1/docs/ai-activate-change-your-setup), and [troubleshoot](/v1/docs/ai-activate-troubleshooting) as your needs change. ## Configure AI Activate one volume at a time You configure AI Activate per volume. If you have several volumes, you repeat the same steps for each one. Your volumes can be at different stages at the same time. For example, one volume might be activated and in use, while another volume is still being scoped. The Nasuni Portal reports the status for each volume separately. ## Volume statuses Each volume shows a status in the Portal that reflects where the volume is in the process: | Status | What it means | | --- | --- | | Preparing for Volume Inventory | You have started a Volume Inventory, and the Volume Inventory is getting ready to run. | | Volume Inventory in Progress | The Volume Inventory is running. | | Volume Inventory Failed | The Volume Inventory did not complete. Contact Nasuni Support. | | Ready to Activate | The Volume Inventory is complete. You can now scope and activate the volume. | | Activation In Progress | Activation is running. | | Activation Failed | Activation did not complete. Contact Nasuni Support. | | Active | The volume is activated. You can turn on MCP access and start using AI Activate. | | Volume Inventory Expired | The Volume Inventory completed, but the volume was not scoped and activated, so the inventory expired. Run a new inventory to start again. | | Removal Pending | You have requested that the volume be removed from AI Activate, and removal is in progress. | | Removed | The volume has been removed from AI Activate. | ## Two ways to size and buy your capacity AI Activate is billed on your Content Activated Files, and activation requires that you have purchased enough capacity to cover your files. How this plays out depends on how your account is set up: - If you already hold capacity, you run an inventory, scope your content, and activate without stopping. - If you were given access to size your purchase first, you run an inventory and scope your content to see the estimated capacity that you need, then return to your account team to purchase capacity before you activate. Either way, you reach the same point: with capacity in place, you activate your content and continue. [Run an inventory and scope your content](/v1/docs/ai-activate-volume-inventory-and-scoping) walks through reading your estimate, and [Activate your content](/v1/docs/ai-activate-activate-your-content) covers what happens at activation. ## Before you start Before you configure AI Activate, review the following components: - [Prerequisites](/v1/docs/ai-activate-prerequisites): Confirm that your environment meets the requirements. - [Costs and Data Responsibilities](/v1/docs/ai-activate-cost-and-data-responsibilities): Learn what you are responsible for and what charges your cloud provider might bill you. - [Permission Enforcement](/v1/docs/ai-activate-understanding-permission-enforcement): Review how AI Activate enforces each file's own permissions.