Files & Drive

Generated assets — and any files you upload — live in Picsart Drive, your centralized cloud library. Outputs from every model land in one place, so you don't download from one tool and re-upload to another.

Save generations to Drive

CLI:

The CLI saves every generation to Drive by default, in a gen-ai-cli folder:

gen-ai generate -m flux-2-pro -p "a poster"                              # saved to Drive/gen-ai-cli
gen-ai generate -m flux-2-pro -p "a poster" --drive-folder "Campaign Q3"  # a different folder
gen-ai generate -m flux-2-pro -p "a poster" --no-save-to-drive           # local download only

When saving, the CLI uses an LLM-generated descriptive filename and (for video, when ffmpeg is installed) a first-frame thumbnail — matching the web app's behavior.

MCP: generation tools write to Drive when the Drive option is enabled for the call.

Upload

gen-ai upload ./photo.jpg                  # single file
gen-ai upload ./assets/ -r                 # a whole folder, recursively
gen-ai upload ./photo.jpg -f "Campaign"    # into a named Drive folder
gen-ai upload ./assets/ -r --dry-run       # list what would be uploaded
gen-ai upload ./photo.jpg --json           # { ok, files: [{ path, url, driveUid, error }] }

Over MCP, upload is an action of the single picsart_drive tool (see below). It takes either a chat attachment or a URL — not a filesystem path:

{ "name": "picsart_drive",
  "arguments": { "action": "upload", "name": "Hero", "url": "https://example.com/photo.jpg" } }

Uploading returns result.url, a CDN-hosted URL you can feed straight into a generation as an input image/video.

Local files need a URL first

No MCP tool accepts a filesystem path. See Local files → URLs for the ways to get one: the built-in uploader, a chat attachment, a CLI upload, or (for small images) an inline data: URI.

The picsart_drive tool

There is exactly one Drive tool. Its behavior is selected by the required action parameter:

action	Required args	What it does
list	—	Browse a folder. folderUid omitted = root; flat: true lists every file across all folders. Paginated via page, pageSize (≤128), with optional sort and type filter
create_folder	name	Create a folder. folderUid = parent (omit for root), optional description
upload	file or url + name	Save a file. file is a chat attachment; url is an HTTPS URL or an inline data: URI (pushed to the CDN first). folderUid = destination, type = resource kind
move	itemUids	Move items to targetFolderUid (omit = root)
delete	itemUids	Soft-delete to trash unless permanent: true
update	itemUid, attributes	Set custom key/value attributes on a file (e.g. { coverUrl })

Every action returns the current folder listing (folders, files, page math) so the Drive widget can render. All actions require an authenticated call — Drive content is per-user.

{ "name": "picsart_drive", "arguments": { "action": "list" } }
{ "name": "picsart_drive", "arguments": { "action": "list", "folderUid": "<uid>" } }
{ "name": "picsart_drive", "arguments": { "action": "create_folder", "name": "Campaign Q3" } }
{ "name": "picsart_drive", "arguments": { "action": "move", "itemUids": ["<uid>"], "targetFolderUid": "<uid>" } }

Browse & organize from the CLI

gen-ai list --folders                          # list Drive folders
gen-ai list --json                             # list files as JSON ({ name, type, url, … } each)
gen-ai list -f "Campaign" --type video --json  # one folder, one media type
gen-ai download                                # interactive file picker
gen-ai download -f "Campaign" --all -o ./out   # everything in a folder (default ./downloads)
gen-ai download -f "Campaign" --list --json    # list without downloading

Drive commands browse your real root folders — they are not scoped to the AI Playground folder.

Copy a remote URL into Drive

To pin an asset that lives behind a short-lived or non-public URL, upload it by URL — the same upload action, with the remote URL as url. The returned CDN URL is stable and fetchable by the generation and render services.

{ "name": "picsart_drive",
  "arguments": { "action": "upload", "name": "ref.jpg", "url": "https://example.com/ref.jpg" } }

FAQ

What file types can I upload?

gen-ai upload accepts images (jpg, jpeg, png, webp, gif, bmp, tiff, svg, heic, heif, avif), video (mp4, mov, avi, mkv, webm, m4v, wmv), and audio (mp3, wav, m4a, aac, ogg, flac, wma); other files are skipped. Filter with -t image|video|audio. The upload returns a URL you can immediately use as an input to a generation.

Are generated files private?

Yes. Files in your Drive are scoped to your account. The result URLs returned by generation tools are time-limited signed URLs — they do not expose your files publicly. Download or save to Drive promptly if long-term access is needed.

Does saving to Drive cost extra credits?

See picsart.com/pricing for current Drive pricing details.

Can I delete files from Drive?

Over MCP, yes: picsart_drive with action: "delete" moves items to the trash, or erases them with permanent: true. The CLI does not have a delete command; manage deletion there from the AI Playground web app.