Folder Management

Folders are the foundation of Hippo’s RAG system - they organize your documents into isolated, searchable knowledge bases.

What are Folders?

Think of folders as knowledge base containers:

Each folder holds a collection of related documents
Documents are automatically indexed for semantic search
Chats are linked to folders to access their documents
Folders provide logical separation of knowledge domains

Best practice: Create separate folders for different knowledge domains (e.g., “Product Docs”, “HR Policies”, “Customer Support”)

Core Operations

Create a Folder

from cerevox import Hippo

hippo = Hippo(api_key="your-api-key")

# Create folder with name and description
folder = hippo.create_folder(
    name="Product Documentation",
    description="User guides, API docs, and tutorials"
)

print(f"Created: {folder.name}")
print(f"ID: {folder.id}")

from cerevox import AsyncHippo

async with AsyncHippo(api_key="your-api-key") as hippo:
    folder = await hippo.create_folder(
        name="Product Documentation",
        description="User guides and API docs"
    )
    print(f"Created: {folder.name}")

Response fields:

id: Unique folder identifier
name: Folder name
description: Folder description
created_at: Creation timestamp
file_count: Number of files in folder

List All Folders

# Get all your folders
folders = hippo.get_folders()

for folder in folders:
    print(f"{folder.name}: {folder.file_count} files")

folders = await hippo.get_folders()

for folder in folders:
    print(f"{folder.name}: {folder.file_count} files")

Get Folder Details

# Get specific folder by ID
folder = hippo.get_folder(folder_id="folder_123")

print(f"Name: {folder.name}")
print(f"Files: {folder.file_count}")
print(f"Created: {folder.created_at}")

folder = await hippo.get_folder(folder_id="folder_123")

Update Folder

# Update folder name or description
updated_folder = hippo.update_folder(
    folder_id=folder.id,
    name="Updated Product Docs",
    description="Complete product documentation library"
)

print(f"Updated: {updated_folder.name}")

updated = await hippo.update_folder(
    folder_id=folder.id,
    name="Updated Name"
)

Delete Folder

Deleting a folder is permanent and removes all files, chats, and Q&A history within it!

# Delete folder and all its contents
hippo.delete_folder(folder_id=folder.id)

print("Folder deleted successfully")

await hippo.delete_folder(folder_id=folder.id)

Folder Organization Strategies

By Department

Create folders for each department or team:

“Engineering Docs”
“Sales Playbooks”
“HR Policies”
“Customer Support”

Benefit: Easy access control and logical separation

By Product or Service

Organize by product lines:

“Product A Documentation”
“Product B User Guides”
“Service X Training Materials”

Benefit: Clear product-specific knowledge bases

By Time Period

Useful for financial or periodic documents:

“Q1 2025 Reports”
“2024 Annual Filings”
“Monthly Updates - March 2025”

Benefit: Easy to archive and reference historical data

By Customer or Project

For client-specific or project-based work:

“Client: Acme Corp”
“Project: Website Redesign”
“Customer: TechStartup Inc”

Benefit: Isolated knowledge per client/project

Folder Limits & Quotas

Files per Folder

Free tier: Up to 100 files Pro tier: Up to 10,000 files Enterprise: UnlimitedContact sales for custom limits

Folder Count

Free tier: Up to 10 folders Pro tier: Up to 100 folders Enterprise: UnlimitedSee pricing

Best Practices

Use Descriptive Names

Good: “Product API Documentation v2.0” Bad: “Docs”, “Folder1”, “Misc”Descriptive names make it easier to manage multiple folders and understand their purpose at a glance.

Add Clear Descriptions

folder = hippo.create_folder(
    name="Customer Support KB",
    description="FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and product manuals for support team"
)

Descriptions help team members understand folder contents without exploring files.

Regular Cleanup

# Delete old or unused folders
folders = hippo.get_folders()

for folder in folders:
    if folder.file_count == 0:
        print(f"Empty folder: {folder.name}")
        # Optionally delete
        # hippo.delete_folder(folder.id)

Clean up empty or outdated folders to keep your workspace organized.

Avoid Over-Fragmentation

Don’t: Create 50 folders with 2-3 files each Do: Create fewer folders with more related documentsFolders with more documents generally yield better search results.

Plan for Growth

Start with broad categories and refine as your knowledge base grows:

Start: “Product Documentation”
As it grows → Split into “Product A Docs”, “Product B Docs”
As it grows more → Split by version or feature

Avoid premature over-organization.

Complete Example: Manage Product Docs

from cerevox import Hippo

hippo = Hippo(api_key="your-api-key")

# 1. Create folders for different product areas
folders = {}

for area in ["User Guides", "API Reference", "Tutorials", "Release Notes"]:
    folder = hippo.create_folder(
        name=f"Product Docs - {area}",
        description=f"{area} for all products"
    )
    folders[area] = folder
    print(f"Created: {folder.name}")

# 2. Upload files to appropriate folders
hippo.upload_file(folders["User Guides"].id, "getting-started.pdf")
hippo.upload_file(folders["API Reference"].id, "api-v2.pdf")
hippo.upload_file(folders["Tutorials"].id, "tutorial-basics.pdf")

# 3. List all folders and their stats
all_folders = hippo.get_folders()

print("\nFolder Summary:")
for folder in all_folders:
    print(f"  {folder.name}: {folder.file_count} files")

# 4. Clean up if needed
# hippo.delete_folder(folder_id=folders["Release Notes"].id)

Next Steps

File Operations

Learn to upload and manage files

Chat Sessions

Create chats linked to folders

Best Practices

Optimize folder organization

Getting Started

Hippo - RAG & Retrieval

Lexa - Document Parsing

Account Management

Examples

Guides

Use Cases

Company

Legal

Folder Management

Folder Management

What are Folders?

Core Operations

Create a Folder

List All Folders

Get Folder Details

Update Folder

Delete Folder

Folder Organization Strategies

Folder Limits & Quotas

Files per Folder

Folder Count

Best Practices

Complete Example: Manage Product Docs

Next Steps

File Operations

Chat Sessions

Best Practices

​Folder Management

​What are Folders?

​Core Operations

​Create a Folder

​List All Folders

​Get Folder Details

​Update Folder

​Delete Folder

​Folder Organization Strategies

​Folder Limits & Quotas

Files per Folder

Folder Count

​Best Practices

​Complete Example: Manage Product Docs

​Next Steps

File Operations

Chat Sessions

Best Practices

Folder Management

What are Folders?

Core Operations

Create a Folder

List All Folders

Get Folder Details

Update Folder

Delete Folder

Folder Organization Strategies

Folder Limits & Quotas

Best Practices

Complete Example: Manage Product Docs

Next Steps