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Document Processing

Add the document layer that lets your AI features read uploads, answer questions with citations, and work with spreadsheets and CSV files.

CrestApps.Core.AI.Documents provides the document features used by chat and orchestration experiences. It is the package to add when you want file uploads to become useful AI context instead of plain attachments.

Quick Start​

builder.Services.AddCrestAppsCore(crestApps => crestApps
    .AddAISuite(ai => ai
        .AddMarkdown()
        .AddChatInteractions()
        .AddDocumentProcessing(documentProcessing => documentProcessing
            .AddEntityCoreStores()
            .AddOpenXml()
            .AddPdf()
            .AddReferenceDownloads()
        )
        .AddOpenAI()
    )
    .AddEntityCoreSqliteDataStore("Data Source=app.db")
);

app.AddChatApiEndpoints()
    .AddDownloadAIDocumentEndpoint();

What Document Processing Handles​

At a high level, document processing lets your app:

  • accept uploaded files for AI features
  • extract usable content from supported formats
  • make document content searchable in conversations
  • route spreadsheets and CSV files through a structured tabular workflow
  • expose uploaded and generated files as downloads in chat

Built-In Capabilities​

Document-aware chat​

Users can upload documents and ask natural-language questions about them. The AI can answer using the uploaded content instead of relying only on the model's general knowledge.

Downloadable references​

When enabled, document references in chat become clickable downloads. This is useful both for original uploads and for files the AI generates during the conversation.

builder.Services.AddCrestAppsCore(crestApps => crestApps
    .AddAISuite(ai => ai
        .AddDocumentProcessing(documentProcessing => documentProcessing
            .AddEntityCoreStores()
            .AddOpenXml()
            .AddPdf()
            .AddReferenceDownloads()
        )
    )
);

app.AddChatApiEndpoints()
    .AddDownloadAIDocumentEndpoint();

Tabular data workflows​

CSV and Excel files are treated as structured data. This is the right fit for tasks such as cleaning up rows, filling missing values, filtering results, and exporting an updated file back to the user.

Optional format support​

Add the readers you need:

  • AddOpenXml() for Office documents
  • AddPdf() for PDF files
  • AddMarkdown() for Markdown-aware text handling

Storage Choices​

Register one of the supported store stacks on the document processing builder.

Entity Framework Core​

.AddDocumentProcessing(documentProcessing => documentProcessing
    .AddEntityCoreStores()
    .AddOpenXml()
    .AddPdf()
    .AddReferenceDownloads()
)

YesSql​

.AddDocumentProcessing(documentProcessing => documentProcessing
    .AddYesSqlStores()
    .AddOpenXml()
    .AddPdf()
    .AddReferenceDownloads()
)

Uploaded files are stored through IDocumentFileStore. The default local file storage can be replaced when you want a different backend.

builder.Services.AddSingleton<IDocumentFileStore, AzureBlobDocumentFileStore>();

Upload Configuration​

Use ChatDocumentsOptions to align upload validation with the formats your app supports.

services.Configure<ChatDocumentsOptions>(options =>
{
    options.Add(".rtf", embeddable: true);
    options.Add(".tsv", embeddable: false);
});

Use these values in both the upload UI and server-side validation so the supported-format guidance stays consistent.

Custom File Formats​

If you need to support a format that is not built in, register a custom reader for the new extension.

builder.Services.AddCoreAIIngestionDocumentReader<MyCustomReader>(".custom", ".myformat");

This lets you extend document support without changing the rest of the document-processing setup.