> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tai42.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage stored content and templates

> Store, list, and load resources.

Store, list, and load resources and templates, including media in and out.

The runtime stores content behind a storage provider and loads it through the resource manager — by storage id, by URL, or from a raw file, as text or as media. A template is one kind of stored resource: content the runtime renders with kwargs. This guide covers managing that content from the CLI.

## Wire a storage provider

Storage is dead by default — the skeleton ships no provider. Name a provider module in the manifest to turn the storage surface on:

```yaml examples/storage/storage_provider_manifest.yaml theme={null}
# Wire a storage provider by naming its module in the manifest. Storage is dead by
# default — with no storage_module the /api/storage doors answer a 501 and the
# Studio Templates screen reports the surface as unavailable. The concrete
# provider (a filesystem or object store) ships as a separate plugin package.
storage_module: tai42_storage_local
```

The concrete provider (a local filesystem or an object store) ships as a separate [plugin package](/guides/authors/storage-provider). With none wired, `tai storage info` reports the empty state and every CRUD door answers a `501`.

## The raw resource surface

`tai storage` is the raw provider-resource surface — upload, list, stat, download, and delete resources by id:

```bash theme={null}
tai storage upload notes/todo.txt --text 'buy milk'
tai storage list
tai storage stat notes/todo.txt
tai storage download notes/todo.txt
```

Upload takes exactly one of `--text` (stored verbatim) or `--base64` (decoded to bytes); an existing id is overwritten. A resource id must be a relative path with no `..` segment. The full subcommand set:

```bash examples/storage/storage_help.sh theme={null}
# The storage group inspects and mutates the active storage provider's resources:
# info / list / stat / download / upload / delete / delete-dir.
tai storage --help
```

## Upload and list templates

Upload a local file as a template under a key, then list what is stored.

```bash theme={null}
tai templates upload prompts/greeting.md --file greeting.md
tai templates list
```

Read one back with its input schema:

```bash theme={null}
tai templates get prompts/greeting.md
```

## Render a template

Render a stored template by id, or inline content, passing render kwargs with the repeatable `--kw key=value` or a JSON `--kwargs` object.

```bash theme={null}
tai templates render --template-id prompts/greeting.md --kw name=Ada
```

Clear the render cache after changing a template out of band:

```bash theme={null}
tai templates clear-cache
```

## Load content in and out

The resource manager loads content by storage id or URL and returns it as text or media. To load a stored resource or a URL from within a tool run, enable the file-loader built-in tool, which returns a file's content as text or media:

```yaml manifest.yml theme={null}
tools:
  - title: file-loader
    module: tai42_skeleton.tools.builtin.file_loader
```

The resource-management capabilities — `upload_template`, `get_resource_by_id`, and `list_resources` — are [operations](/concepts/live-operations). Each is always a route and a CLI command, and projects as an MCP tool when [`api_tools`](/concepts/manifest#the-api_tools-block) allows it, so a tool run or an MCP client reaches the same surface the CLI does:

```bash theme={null}
tai resources get prompts/greeting.md --kw name=Ada
```

`get_resource_by_id` takes a `resource_id` and optional render kwargs; with no kwargs it returns the loaded content as-is, and with kwargs (any object, including `{}`) it renders text as a Jinja template, refusing media with a `400`. `list_resources` answers `{"resources": [...]}` — the sorted resource ids from the active provider — and `upload_template` takes a `path` and returns `{"path", "uploaded": true}`.

<Note>
  The storage provider is a plugin, so where content lives is swappable. The text and media surfaces are the same regardless of backend — a text-only backend satisfies the binary surface through built-in bridging. To build a backend, see [Author a storage provider](/guides/authors/storage-provider).
</Note>

## See also

* [Storage and resources](/concepts/storage-and-resources) — the resource manager and the load-by-id / URL / file paths.
* [Config and secrets](/concepts/config-and-secrets) — selecting the storage provider.
* [Author a storage provider](/guides/authors/storage-provider) — implement the storage contract.
* [CLI reference](/reference/cli) — the full `tai templates` surface.