Working with Files

QuickFlo provides a full set of file operations for reading, writing, downloading, and managing files in your workflows. Every file step supports both managed storage (zero-config, hosted by QuickFlo) and bring-your-own cloud storage providers.

Available File Steps

Step	What it does
file.write	Write content to a file in cloud storage
file.read	Read a file’s content from cloud storage
file.download-from-url	Download a file from an HTTP(S) URL
file.delete	Delete a file from cloud storage
file.copy	Copy a file to a new path
file.move	Move a file to a new path
file.list	List files in a storage directory
file.exists	Check whether a file exists at a given path
file.get-signed-url	Generate a temporary signed URL for secure file access

Storage Options

Every file step that interacts with cloud storage includes a Storage section with four tabs:

Managed Storage

The default option. Files are stored in QuickFlo’s hosted storage, scoped to your organization. No configuration needed — just provide a file path and QuickFlo handles the rest.

Managed storage paths are relative to your organization’s namespace. For example, writing to reports/monthly.csv stores the file at an organization-scoped path that only your workflows can access.

Google Cloud Storage

Connect your own GCS bucket. Provide a service account key and reference files using gs:// URLs (e.g., gs://my-bucket/data/file.csv).

Amazon S3

Connect any S3-compatible storage — AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, MinIO, and others. Provide an access key, secret key, region, and bucket. Reference files using s3:// URLs.

SFTP

Connect to an SFTP server for file operations. Provide host, port, username, and authentication credentials. Reference files using sftp:// URLs.

Tip

You can mix storage providers across steps in the same workflow. For example, download a file from a public URL, write it to managed storage, then copy it to your own S3 bucket.

Writing Files

The file.write step saves content to cloud storage.

Field	Description
File Path	Where to store the file (e.g., data/output/report.csv)
Content	The file content — use templates to pass data from previous steps
Content Type	MIME type of the file (e.g., text/csv, application/json)
Base64 Decode	Enable when the content is base64-encoded (e.g., binary files from an API response)

Reading Files

The file.read step retrieves a file’s content from cloud storage.

Field	Description
File URL	The storage URL of the file — use the url from a previous write step’s output (e.g., {{ write-step.file.url }})
Return as Base64	Return content as base64 instead of UTF-8 text — use this for binary files like images or PDFs

Downloading from a URL

The file.download-from-url step fetches a file from any public HTTP(S) URL and returns it as a file object you can pass to other steps.

Field	Description
Download URL	The HTTP(S) URL to download from
File Name	Override the auto-detected filename
MIME Type	Override the auto-detected content type
Timeout	Max wait time in milliseconds (default: 30,000)
Request Headers	Custom headers to send with the download request (e.g., auth tokens)
Return as Base64	Return the downloaded content as base64

Generating Signed URLs

The file.get-signed-url step creates a temporary, pre-authenticated URL for accessing a file without exposing your storage credentials.

Field	Description
File URL	The storage URL of the file
Expires In	How long the signed URL remains valid (in minutes, default: 60)

Output:

{{ get-signed-url-step.signedUrl }}     // Temporary public URL
{{ get-signed-url-step.originalUrl }}   // Original storage URL (gs://, s3://, etc.)
{{ get-signed-url-step.expiresAt }}     // Expiration timestamp

Tip

Signed URLs are useful for sharing files with external systems or returning download links from webhook-triggered workflows without exposing your storage credentials.

File Object Output

Steps that produce files (download-from-url, read, write) return a file object with metadata you can reference in later steps:

{{ download-step.file.filename }}    // e.g., "report.csv"
{{ download-step.file.content }}     // File content (text or base64)
{{ download-step.file.mimeType }}    // e.g., "text/csv"
{{ download-step.file.size }}        // File size in bytes
{{ download-step.file.url }}         // Source URL

Common Patterns

Download and store a file

Download a file from an external API, then write it to managed storage:

Step 1 (file.download-from-url): Download from https://api.example.com/export.csv
Step 2 (file.write):             Path = exports/{{ initial.date }}.csv
                                  Content = {{ download-step.file.content }}

Generate a download link

Write a file to storage, then create a signed URL to return to the caller:

Step 1 (file.write):           Path = reports/{{ initial.reportId }}.pdf
Step 2 (file.get-signed-url):  File URL = {{ write-step.file.url }}
Step 3 (return):               Body = { "downloadUrl": "{{ get-signed-url-step.signedUrl }}" }

Read, transform, and re-write

Read a file, process its content with a data step, then write the result back:

Step 1 (file.read):   File URL = gs://my-bucket/raw/data.json
Step 2 (data.map):    Transform the parsed content
Step 3 (file.write):  Path = processed/data.json, Content = {{ map-step.output }}