# Upload a file

An identifier will be generated. To specify a file identifier or to replace file content, use the upsert endpoint (`PUT /files/{assistant_name}/{assistant_file_id}`).

This operation is asynchronous. The response includes an operation ID that can be used to poll for completion via the describe operation endpoint.

For guidance and examples, see [Manage files](/guides/upload-your-data-manage-files#upload-a-local-file).

```bash curl theme={null}
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
ASSISTANT_NAME="example-assistant"
LOCAL_FILE_PATH="/Users/jdoe/Downloads/example_file.txt"

curl -X POST "https://prod-1-data.ke.pinecone.io/assistant/files/$ASSISTANT_NAME" \
     -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
     -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-04" \
     -F "file=@$LOCAL_FILE_PATH" \
     -F 'metadata={"published": "2024-01-01", "document_type": "manuscript"}'
```

```json curl theme={null}
{
  "id": "op-1234-abcd-5678",
  "operation_type": "upload_file",
  "file_id": "3c90c3cc-0d44-4b50-8888-8dd25736052a",
  "status": "Processing",
  "created_on": "2025-10-01T12:30:00Z",
  "percent_complete": 0
}
```

:::callout{intent="note"}
This example shows a `Processing` operation. The `error_message` field is present only when the operation status is `Failed`.
:::

`POST /files/{assistant_name}`

:::code-group
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request POST \
  --url https://{assistant_host}/files/{assistant_name} \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'
```

```json title="202"
{
  "id": "op-1234-abcd-5678",
  "operation_type": "upload_file",
  "file_id": "my-file-id-123",
  "status": "Processing",
  "created_on": "2025-10-01T12:30:00.000Z",
  "completed_on": "2025-10-01T12:35:00.000Z",
  "percent_complete": 42,
  "error_message": "File processing failed: unsupported file format.",
  "ingestion_units": 50
}
```
:::

## Authorizations

- `Authorization` (header, string, required) — Bearer authentication header of the form `Bearer <token>`.

## Path Parameters

- `assistant_name` (path, string, required) — The name of the assistant to upload files to.

## Query Parameters

- `multimodal` (query, string) — Optional flag to opt in to multimodal file processing (PDFs only). Can be either `true` or `false`. Default is `false`.

## Headers

- `X-Pinecone-Api-Version` (header, string, required) — Required date-based version header

## Response

- `202` — File upload accepted. Processing has started.
- `400` — Bad request. The request body included invalid request parameters.
- `401` — Unauthorized. Possible causes: Invalid API key.
- `404` — Assistant not found.
- `500` — Internal server error.

## Related pages

- [Account management](./account-management-index.md)
- [Admin](./admin-2-index.md)
- [Admin](./admin-index.md)
- [APIs](./apis-index.md)
- [Architecture](./architecture-index.md)
- [Assistants](./assistants-index.md)
- [Bring Your Own Cloud](./bring-your-own-cloud-index.md)
- [Build an assistant](./build-an-assistant-index.md)
- [Build an integration](./build-an-integration-index.md)
- [Changelog](./changelog-index.md)

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