📥 Project Sources: every file that came in, by day

Every project has two zones:

• Sources — every file you or your team supplied: files from a Telegram group, a Google Drive folder or a folder on this computer, files brought in once with Import files, and files you add yourself. On disk this is the sources/ folder of the project.
• Workspace — everything else. You and your agents organise it freely: there are no mandatory folders. Scheduled reports go to reports/<YYYY-MM>/ by convention, unless you ask for another place.

The project also has a hidden .amba/ folder where AMBA keeps its own state (what it learned about the project, older versions of your files). You do not need to open it.

In the file tree the two zones are shown as Sources (by source, then by day) and Workspace (a free tree).

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1. Agents can never change Sources

Agents, processes, the Office engines, model-written scripts and test runs can read Sources but can never write, move, rename or delete anything in Sources or in .amba/. This is enforced by the app on every file action, in every mode — it is not a setting and no permission or approval can turn it off. A result is always saved as a new file in the workspace.

Files that live outside the project (a Drive folder, a folder on your computer) are copied into Sources; the originals stay where they are and are never touched.

2. You can still edit a source file

Sources are read-only for agents, not for you. If you correct a file yourself (for example in Excel):

• AMBA keeps the previous version. In the file tree the file shows a history icon; ⋯ → File history lists the older versions.
• Figures and reports that relied on the old version are marked to be checked again. The day of that file shows "… changed after the report "…" used it — run it again" with a Run again button.

Deleting a source file from the app is also possible; its content stays in the history.

3. Final is a state, not a folder

A file is final when a process delivered it or when you mark it yourself (Mark as final in the file tree; Unmark final to undo). Final files carry the Final badge wherever they are saved. You can still keep your own final/ folder if you like.

4. Kinds of files

When a file arrives, AMBA records for it, without the AI:

• the business day it belongs to (from its content, title, file name, the message sent with it and its arrival time);
• its kind, for example "Sales report" or "Costs", recognised from the file's structure (sheet names, columns, title);
• who sent it, and whether it is a duplicate or a newer version of a file already received;
• which process run or report used it, and when.

The first time a new file structure arrives, AMBA asks once — What kind of file is this? — with suggestions (also in your Telegram chat). Name it, and from then on files of that kind are recognised by themselves. In the demo shop, naming two kinds was enough for all 43 files to be classified. Project settings → File kinds lets you rename or merge the kinds AMBA learned.

5. Each source is an item in the file tree

Under Sources in the file tree, each source is its own item — for example Telegram · Accounting group, Drive · Branch reports, Folder · Invoices — with a health dot: green is Receiving, amber needs attention (no files yet, paused, a temporary error), red means the source stopped receiving (Needs sign-in again, the bot cannot read the group, the folder is gone). Files you add yourself are under Uploaded by you.

Under each source are its days, each with a small badge on the right that counts that source's files only:

Badge	Meaning	Click it for
✓	The day's files were used in a report	which report, when, which run
N unknown kind	Files of a new layout	What kind of file is this? — answer it right there
N need a date	Files whose day is unclear	choose the day (or Not tied to a day)
⚠	Files but no report yet, or a file changed after its report	the reason and a fix: Run now, Run again, Open process, Sign in again

Hover a badge to read the reason; every fix is at most two clicks from the tree. A file of unknown kind also carries a small dot. ⋯ → File history on a file shows the reports that used it and the older versions AMBA kept.

Opening a source

Click a source to open it as a tab, like a file (close it, reopen it, switch between tabs). The main area is the Ingestion history, newest first, by day. Each time AMBA checks the source is one line with its time and one result:

• ✓ N new files — with the file names and who sent them (Telegram group) or "from the folder";
• – no new files — consecutive checks with nothing new are folded into one line: no new files (17 times);
• ⚠ skipped N files — with the reason: same content as a file already there, too large (Telegram lets bots download at most 20 MB), a file type AMBA does not read (installers), an Office temporary file (~$…), a Google file that cannot be downloaded;
• ✗ an error — for example Google needs you to sign in again, with a Sign in again button; a repeated error is folded: Repeated 12 times since 6:00 AM.

Files of unknown kind have a Classify button in their line. Scroll down (or Show more) for older checks. AMBA keeps this history for 90 days.

The Setup button at the right of the tab opens or closes the setup pane; AMBA remembers your choice. The pane depends on the kind of source:

• Telegram group — Bot, Group (by name), Ask for the date when unclear (you, someone in the directory, or nobody), Ask the file kind on Telegram.
• Google Drive folder — Account (sign in again right there when Google asks), Folder (by name), Also take the files already there, Subfolders.
• Folder on this computer — Path, Also take the files already there.

Below: Check, Pause / Resume and Remove source. Removing a source deletes no files: what it brought stays in Sources. A source a process still reads cannot be removed — pause or change that process first.

Uploaded by you opens as a tab too, listing the files you added by time.

Adding a source

⋯ at the top of Sources has Upload Files, Add source ▸ Telegram · Drive · Folder and Import files from Drive (once). Add source opens a new tab with the setup pane; when you click Add source, the source appears in the tree and the tab becomes its tab. Adding a Telegram group also saves the group in the project directory (once), so processes can name it.

Files not tied to a day (a staff list, a price list) are in the source's No date yet folder or under Uploaded by you. See also Processes → Sources and file sources.

6. Projects created before version 0.5.13

Older projects used three fixed folders (input/, workings/, output/). On the first start after the update, AMBA moves them once:

• files in input/ that arrived from a source go to that source's day in Sources;
• everything else in input/ goes to sources/uploads/, keeping its sub-folders;
• workings/ and output/ stay where they are, as ordinary workspace folders.

A one-time notice, Incoming files now live in Sources, says how many files were moved. Processes, saved facts and file references are updated in the same step, so nothing has to be set up again. If a file could not be moved (for example a file with the same name but different content already exists in Sources), nothing is moved and the notice gives the reason.