{"rid":"storage/gemini-file-search-stores","card":{"rid":"storage/gemini-file-search-stores","eid":"google-2","topic":"storage","slug":"gemini-file-search-stores","provider":"Gemini File Search stores (managed RAG)","url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search","domain":"google.dev","category":"Managed vector store","tier":null,"verdict":"fails-quota","vorder":6,"grp":"rejected","confidence":"reported","binding":"per-object-cap","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":0,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"rest","egress_metered":1,"per_object_bytes":100000000,"retention_days":2,"verified_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","verified_basis":"inherited","checked_on":"2026-10-21","stale_on":"2026-11-04","n_evidence":4,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"Free tier 1 GB of store; Tier 1 10 GB; Tier 2 100 GB; Tier 3 1 TB. 100 MB per document.","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":4},"record":{"topic":"storage","slug":"gemini-file-search-stores","provider":"Gemini File Search stores (managed RAG)","url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search","category":"Managed vector store","free_tier":{"stated":"Free tier 1 GB of store; Tier 1 10 GB; Tier 2 100 GB; Tier 3 1 TB. 100 MB per document.","unit":"GB","metered_on":"stored-bytes","source_url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search","read_on":"2026-10-21","notes":null},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"per-object-cap 100 MB","bytes":100000000,"source_url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search","notes":"not stated"},"retention":{"stated":"Raw files are deleted after 48 hours; only chunked embeddings persist, and there is no documented route to reassemble originals","days":2,"source_url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search","notes":"not stated"},"egress":{"terms":"Storage free, query-time embeddings free. You pay only indexing embeddings ($0.15 / 1M tokens) and context tokens on retrieval.","metered":true},"interface":["rest"],"interface_detail":"google-genai `client.file_search_stores.create` / `uploadToFileSearchStore` / `documents.list`","tooling":"pip install google-genai; REST fileSearchStores.documents","chaining":"Multiple stores per project, but the project-wide total is the cap. 'File Search store size is computed on the backend … typically approximately 3 times the size of your input data' — so 1 TB of Tier 3 store ≈ 340 GB of input. On free tier, 1 GB store ≈ 333 MB of input.","limits":[{"kind":"retention-clamped","value":"deleted after 48 hours","source":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search"},{"kind":"per-object-cap","value":"per-object-cap 100 MB","source":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search"}],"limits_note":"per-object-cap 100 MB. 'Recommendation: Limit the size of each File Search store to under 20 GB'. No TTL on embeddings — they persist until manually deleted or the model is deprecated.","identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":"email","country":null},"reliability_note":"Embeddings are not bytes. Raw files are deleted after 48 hours; only chunked embeddings persist, and there is no documented route to reassemble originals. The 3x expansion factor is the trap — the marketing number understates the cost of the input by 3x. Free tier at 1 GB is below the brief's floor by a factor of 500.","confidence":"reported","confidence_note":"One page read moves it to documented.","evidence":[{"url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"'Total size of project File Search stores (based on user tier): Free: 1 GB; Tier 1: 10 GB; Tier 2: 100 GB; Tier 3: 1 TB'; 'Maximum file size / per document limit: 100 MB'"},{"url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"'There is no Time To Live (TTL) for embeddings; they persist until manually deleted … Files, however, are deleted after 48 hours.'"},{"url":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/file-search","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"'This is typically approximately 3 times the size of your input data'; 'Storage is free of charge.'"},{"url":"https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/developers-tools/file-search-gemini-api/","date":"2026-10-21","proved":"'we're making storage and embedding generation at query time free of charge … $0.15 per 1 million tokens'"}],"verdict":"fails-quota","verified_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z","notes":"Free tier 1 GB of store; Tier 1 10 GB; Tier 2 100 GB; Tier 3 1 TB. 100 MB per document.","extras":{"dead_end":{"failure_class":"quota","why":"Free tier 1 GB of store; Tier 1 10 GB; Tier 2 100 GB; Tier 3 1 TB. 100 MB per document.","retry_when":null,"first_recorded":"2026-10-21"}},"binding":"per-object-cap","binding_note":"the per-object cap sets the shard size and therefore the object count; it bounds the total more tightly than any headline quota"},"claims":[{"path":"$.free_tier.stated","kind":"free-quota","num":1,"unit":"GB","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[0].value","kind":"limit:retention-clamped","num":48,"unit":"hours","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"},{"path":"$.limits[1].value","kind":"limit:per-object-cap","num":100,"unit":"MB","per":null,"currency":null,"usd":null,"fx_date":null,"parse":"ok"}],"unknown":[["$.extras.dead_end.retry_when","process"],["$.free_tier.notes","process"],["$.per_object_cap.notes","not-extracted"],["$.retention.notes","not-extracted"]],"history":[],"drift":[]}