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Overview

The Box integration enables your agents to search, browse, read, upload, and manage files across your enterprise Box environment. Ideal for document retrieval, content analysis, and automated file organization.

Features

  • Enterprise Search: Search across file names, descriptions, and file content
  • Document Reading: Extract text from PDFs, DOCX, PPTX, and other document types
  • File Management: Upload, move, copy, and organize files and folders
  • Folder Browsing: Navigate folder hierarchies with sorting and pagination
  • File Downloads: Download files for processing with Python tools

Prerequisites

  • Box Enterprise account with admin access
  • A Box Custom App configured for Client Credentials Grant (CCG)
  • Enterprise ID from Box Admin Console

Setup Guide

1

Create a Box Custom App

Go to the Box Developer Console, click Create New App, choose Custom App, and select Client Credentials Grant as the authentication method.
2

Configure App Settings

In your app’s Configuration tab:
  • Note the Client ID and Client Secret
  • Under App Access Level, select App + Enterprise Access
  • Under Application Scopes, enable the permissions your agent needs (e.g., Read/Write all files and folders)
3

Authorize the App

In the Box Admin Console, go to Apps > Custom Apps Manager and authorize your newly created app. This requires Box admin privileges.
4

Get Your Enterprise ID

In the Box Admin Console, go to Account & Billing. Your Enterprise ID is displayed at the top of the page.
5

Enable Box Integration

In Aster Agents, navigate to Control Hub > Integrations and locate the Box card. Click Connect and provide:
  • Client ID — from your Box app’s Configuration tab
  • Client Secret — from your Box app’s Configuration tab
  • Enterprise ID — from Box Admin Console
6

Add Tools to Your Agent

Edit your agent and enable the Box tools you need. Available tools cover search, folder browsing, file reading, uploading, and file management.

Available Tools

Search & Browse

  • Box Search — Full-text search across your enterprise content with filters for file type, extensions, and ancestor folders
  • Box List Folder — Browse folder contents with pagination and sorting

Read & Download

  • Box Read File — Extract text content from documents (PDFs, DOCX, PPTX, etc.) using Box’s built-in text extraction
  • Box Get File Info — Get metadata including size, path, owner, dates, and version info
  • Box Download File — Download files as attachments for processing with execute_python

Write & Organize

  • Box Upload File — Upload text content as a new file
  • Box Create Folder — Create new folders
  • Box Move Item — Move files or folders to a different location
  • Box Copy Item — Copy files or folders with optional renaming

Security Considerations

  • Use a dedicated service account for the Box app rather than a personal account
  • Limit application scopes to only the permissions your agents need
  • Restrict folder access using Box’s collaboration settings to control which content is accessible
  • Monitor app activity in the Box Admin Console under Reports
  • Rotate Client Secret periodically via the Developer Console

Troubleshooting

  • Verify your Client ID, Client Secret, and Enterprise ID are correct
  • Confirm the app has been authorized in the Box Admin Console
  • Check that the app is configured for Client Credentials Grant (not OAuth 2.0)
  • The service account user may not have access to the content — use Box collaborations to share folders with the service account
  • Verify the app’s Application Scopes include the required permissions
  • Check that App Access Level is set to “App + Enterprise Access”
  • Box text extraction works best with common document types (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, TXT)
  • Very large files (over 10MB for plain text) may not be fully extracted
  • Scanned PDFs require Box’s OCR feature to be enabled for your enterprise