# How to share documents so the recipient's AI can answer questions about them

Put the documents in a Base and send the share link. The recipient can read it in a browser, paste the link into Claude, ChatGPT or another AI chat, or connect Base once so their AI can search it directly. Every fact in a Base carries a verbatim quote from one of your files, so the recipient can check any answer against its source.

Updated October 7, 2026. Canonical page: https://createbases.com/guides/share-documents-with-ai

## Steps

1. Start a Base from the [home page](https://createbases.com/) and name it after the job, such as "Atlas rebrand handoff" or "Series A data room".
2. Add the documents: PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, CSV, plain text, Markdown and images, up to 50 MB per file. Scanned PDFs are read with OCR.
3. Let Base read them. In the background it writes an overview, key facts, a timeline, and the people and organizations involved. Each fact keeps the quote it came from, and a fact whose quote cannot be found in the file is dropped.
4. Review what it found. The review queue lists figures that disagree between documents and names it was unsure were the same. Confirm, correct or remove each one.
5. Choose who can open it: anyone with the link, only people you invite by email, or buyers if you sell access. Decide whether readers may download files or connect an AI, and set an expiry date if the access should end.
6. Publish and send the link.

## What the recipient can do

- Read it in any browser: the overview, the cited facts, the timeline and the files you made available.
- Ask a question on the page and get an answer that quotes the documents.
- Paste the link into an AI chat and ask the assistant to open it.
- Connect Base to their AI once, at `https://createbases.com/api/mcp`, so it can search every Base they have been sent. Setup for each app is on [the connect page](https://createbases.com/connect).
- Follow the Base, so their AI can tell them what changed the next time they check.

## Keeping control after you send it

Access is checked on every request, from a browser or an AI, so revoking the link or reaching the expiry date cuts it off on the next request. AI access is its own switch: turn it off and the Base can still be read in a browser but not connected to an AI. On Pro you can choose which files each person sees and see who opened the Base.

## Why not attach the files to a chat?

Attaching works for a few files, once. Each recipient has to upload them again, their AI rereads everything in every conversation, nothing tells them when you update a document, and you cannot take the files back. A Base is one link that stays current, answers with sources, and can be revoked.

## Questions

### Does the recipient need an account?

Not in link mode: anyone with the link can read the Base. In invite mode, each person signs in with the email address you invited, using a one-time link or Google. Adding Base as a connector in an AI app asks them to sign in.

### What does it cost the recipient?

Nothing. Reading a Base, searching it and connecting it to an AI are free. Credits come from the owner's balance: when the Base reads new documents, works to improve itself, or gives a deeper answer the owner has allowed.

### Which AI apps can open a Base?

Claude has Base in its connector directory. ChatGPT, Grok and other apps that accept a custom MCP connector work with the connector URL. Coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex and Cursor connect the same way.

### What does it cost me?

Base is free for up to 2 Bases with 500 credits and no card. Pro is $29 a month for unlimited Bases.