WebDAV

The WebDAV app provides read/write access to any WebDAV-compatible file server — Nextcloud, ownCloud, a generic Apache mod_dav instance or any vendor-specific WebDAV endpoint. It can be used either as a Builder app (automations call WebDAV instructions directly) or as a remote MCP server consumed by an AI agent. Authentication supports HTTP Basic (username + password) and Bearer token. An optional allowedPath restricts every operation to a subtree of the server. The connector exposes a single files tool that dispatches across 10 file/directory operations: listing, reading, writing, copying, moving, deleting, recursive search, full directory trees and directory creation.

Browse

List directories, fetch metadata, walk full nested trees, search by name and modification date

Read & Write

Download file content, upload or overwrite files with a custom MIME type, create directories

Organize

Move, rename, copy or delete files and directories — with optional overwrite-on-target

Prerequisites

A reachable WebDAV server with a stable base URL. Examples:
- Nextcloud / ownCloud — https://cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/<username>
- Generic Apache mod_dav — https://files.example.com/dav
- Vendor-specific — refer to the provider’s documentation for the WebDAV endpoint
Credentials matching the chosen authentication mode:
- Basic — a username + password (often an app password if the provider supports 2FA, e.g. Nextcloud)
- Token — a Bearer token issued by the provider
(Optional) An allowed path to restrict every operation to a single subtree — useful when the WebDAV user has access to more than you want to expose.

When using basic auth against a Nextcloud or ownCloud instance with two-factor authentication enabled, create a dedicated app password in the user settings (Security → Devices & sessions → Create new app password) and use it as the password. The main account password will be rejected.

Usage as App
Usage as MCP

Installation

Go to Apps in your workspace
Search for WebDAV and install it
Open the app instance configuration and fill in the required fields

Configuration

Field	Description
WebDAV Base URL	WebDAV server base URL — e.g. `https://cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/user`. All paths in tool calls are resolved relative to this URL
Authentication Type	`basic` for username/password, `token` for Bearer token
Username	Username for Basic Auth (ignored in token mode)
Password	Password (or app password) for Basic Auth (stored as a workspace secret)
Bearer Token	Bearer token for token mode (stored as a workspace secret)
Allowed path (optional)	If set, every file operation is rejected when the resolved path falls outside this subtree. Leave empty to expose the full base URL
MCP Endpoint	Auto-populated on install — URL of the MCP endpoint for this instance
MCP API Key	Auto-populated on install — signed key used in the `mcp-api-key` header. Do not modify

MCP Endpoint and MCP API Key are generated automatically by the onInstall flow. The Basic / Bearer credentials are stored as workspace secrets.

Available Instructions

Every instruction resolves credentials from the workspace configuration. All paths are interpreted relative to the baseUrl; leading / is allowed but optional.

Files & Directories

Instruction	Arguments
`listFiles`	`path`, `depth`
`getFile`	`path`*
`getFileProperties`	`path`*
`uploadFile`	`path`, `content`, `contentType`
`deleteFile`	`path`*
`moveFile`	`sourcePath`, `destinationPath`, `overwrite`
`copyFile`	`sourcePath`, `destinationPath`, `overwrite`
`getDirectoryTree`	`path`*
`searchFiles`	`path`, `dateFrom`, `dateTo`, `query`, `page`, `pageSize`, `sortOrder`
`createDirectory`	`path`*

Arguments flagged with * are required. depth accepts 0 (path info only) or 1 (immediate children, default). deleteFile deletes directories recursively.

DSUL Examples

List the contents of a folder

- WebDAV.files:
    action: list
    path: '/Documents'
    depth: 1
    output: listing

Download a file and decode its content

- WebDAV.files:
    action: get
    path: '/Reports/2026/q1-results.md'
    output: report
- emit:
    event: report.fetched
    payload:
      size: '{{report.size}}'
      excerpt: '{% slice({{report.content}}, 0, 500) %}'

Upload a generated PDF

- WebDAV.files:
    action: upload
    path: '/Generated/{{run.date}}-summary.md'
    content: |
      # Daily summary
      
      {{summary.body}}
    contentType: 'text/markdown'

Move yesterday’s exports to an archive folder

- WebDAV.files:
    action: move
    sourcePath: '/Exports/{{yesterday}}.csv'
    destinationPath: '/Archive/{{yesterday}}.csv'
    overwrite: false

Search for recent reports by name

- WebDAV.files:
    action: search
    path: '/Reports'
    query: 'q2'
    dateFrom: '2026-04-01T00:00:00Z'
    dateTo: '2026-07-01T00:00:00Z'
    sortOrder: desc
    pageSize: 25
    output: matches

Walk a full directory tree

- WebDAV.files:
    action: getTree
    path: '/Projects/Acme'
    output: tree

The WebDAV app ships with a built-in MCP server. Each app instance gets its own signed mcp-api-key that encodes the workspace ID and a credentials lookup URL — the WebDAV credentials themselves are never passed through headers and are resolved server-side from the app configuration.

Plug into an Agent Creator capability

Agents consume MCP servers directly through Agent Creator capabilities. This is the preferred way to expose WebDAV to an agent.

Create or open a workspace

From the Prisme.ai console, create a new workspace (or open the one that will host the connector).

Install the WebDAV app

Open the workspace Imports panel, search for WebDAV and install it.

Configure the credentials

Open the freshly installed app instance settings and fill in the base URL, authentication type and Basic / Bearer credentials (see the Usage as App tab for the field-by-field reference).

Copy the MCP endpoint and API key

Still on the app instance configuration page, copy the values of MCP Endpoint and MCP API Key — both are generated automatically on install.

Open Agent Creator

Switch to Agent Creator and open the agent you want to extend.

Add a capability

Add a new capability to the agent:

If a dedicated WebDAV capability exists — select it and paste the MCP API Key into the mcp-api-key field. The server URL is already wired.
Otherwise — select the generic custom_mcp capability, paste the MCP Endpoint into the Server URL field, then open the Headers field and add an mcp-api-key entry whose value is the MCP API Key copied earlier:
```
{
  "mcp-api-key": "your-mcp-api-key"
}
```

Save

The agent now has access to every WebDAV tool exposed by the MCP server.

Brief the agent in its system prompt

Wiring the capability is not enough — the agent also needs to know the MCP exists and when to reach for it. Add a short paragraph to the agent’s system prompt. Copy-pasteable starter:

You have access to the WebDAV MCP server (mapped to <provider, e.g. Nextcloud, ownCloud, a corporate file server>). Use it whenever the user asks to browse files, read a document, write or overwrite a file, move/copy/rename files, walk a directory tree, search by name or by modification date. Prefer `list` for one level of children and `getTree` only when the user explicitly asks for a recursive view (it can be expensive). Always confirm with the user before destructive actions (`delete`, `move` with `overwrite: true`, `upload` overwriting an existing file).

Refine the trigger keywords (resource names, business domains, typical user phrasings) so the agent reliably picks up the right intent in your context.

Legacy MCP Install (Advanced > Tools)

Use this flow to plug the WebDAV MCP into an AI Knowledge agent that does not yet support the native MCP picker.

Install the WebDAV app

Install and configure the app in the same workspace as your agent (see the Usage as App tab). Once configured, mcpEndpoint and mcpApiKey are auto-populated.

Copy the MCP credentials

Open the app instance config and copy the values of MCP Endpoint and MCP API Key.

Open your AI Knowledge project

Navigate to Advanced > Tools.

Add an MCP tool

Click Add and select the MCP tab.

Fill in the endpoint

Paste the MCP Endpoint URL copied from the app instance.

Add the auth header

In the Headers field, add the signed API key:

{
  "mcp-api-key": "your-mcp-api-key"
}

Save

The agent can now list and call WebDAV tools through the MCP endpoint.

The signed mcp-api-key encodes the workspace ID and the getConfig webhook URL. The MCP server validates the signature using the central app secret and transparently fetches the WebDAV base URL plus Basic / Bearer credentials from the installed app. Credentials are cached per tenant for 10 minutes.

Output Formats

Every tool accepts an outputFormat parameter that controls the MCP response shape:

verbose (default) — human-readable text for LLM consumption
structured — machine-readable JSON in structuredContent
both — both text and structured content

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes a single entity-level tool, files, which dispatches across 10 actions through its action argument.

`files`

Action	Description
`list`	List files / directories at a given path (depth 0 or 1)
`get`	Download file content
`getProperties`	Get metadata of a file or directory without its content
`upload`	Upload or overwrite a file with a given MIME type
`delete`	Delete a file or a directory (recursive)
`move`	Move or rename a file or directory
`copy`	Copy a file or directory
`getTree`	Walk the full nested directory tree under a path
`search`	Search files recursively by name and modification date, with pagination
`createDir`	Create a new directory (parent must exist)

Tool Details

`files` (action: `list`)

{
  "name": "files",
  "arguments": {
    "action": "list",
    "path": "/Documents",
    "depth": 1
  }
}

Parameter	Required	Description
`action`	✓	Must be `list`
`path`	–	Directory to list. Defaults to `/`
`depth`	–	`1` (default) for immediate children; `0` to return only the path’s own info (akin to a stat)

`files` (action: `upload`)

{
  "name": "files",
  "arguments": {
    "action": "upload",
    "path": "/Generated/2026-05-26-summary.md",
    "content": "# Daily summary\n\n…",
    "contentType": "text/markdown"
  }
}

Parameter	Required	Description
`action`	✓	Must be `upload`
`path`	✓	Target file path. Existing files at the same path are overwritten
`content`	✓	The file content (text). For binary uploads, prefer copying from an existing file via `copy` after staging the content elsewhere
`contentType`	–	MIME type of the content. Defaults to `text/plain`. Common values: `text/markdown`, `application/json`, `text/csv`

`files` (action: `move`)

{
  "name": "files",
  "arguments": {
    "action": "move",
    "sourcePath": "/Exports/2026-05-25.csv",
    "destinationPath": "/Archive/2026-05-25.csv",
    "overwrite": false
  }
}

Parameter	Required	Description
`action`	✓	Must be `move`
`sourcePath`	✓	Current path of the file or directory
`destinationPath`	✓	New path (must be inside `allowedPath` if configured)
`overwrite`	–	Whether to overwrite if the destination exists. Defaults to `true`

`files` (action: `search`)

{
  "name": "files",
  "arguments": {
    "action": "search",
    "path": "/Reports",
    "query": "q2",
    "dateFrom": "2026-04-01T00:00:00Z",
    "dateTo": "2026-07-01T00:00:00Z",
    "sortOrder": "desc",
    "page": 1,
    "pageSize": 25
  }
}

Parameter	Required	Description
`action`	✓	Must be `search`
`path`	–	Search root (defaults to `/`). The search is always recursive
`query`	–	Case-insensitive substring match on file names
`dateFrom`	–	RFC3339 / ISO 8601 — only files modified on or after this date
`dateTo`	–	RFC3339 / ISO 8601 — only files modified on or before this date
`sortOrder`	–	`desc` (default, newest first) or `asc`
`page`	–	Page number, 1-indexed. Default `1`
`pageSize`	–	Items per page. Default `50`

`files` (action: `getTree`)

{
  "name": "files",
  "arguments": {
    "action": "getTree",
    "path": "/Projects/Acme"
  }
}

Parameter	Required	Description
`action`	✓	Must be `getTree`
`path`	✓	Root of the tree to walk

getTree can return very large responses on deep directories. When the tree is large, prefer list with depth: 1 and recurse client-side, or call search with a path filter.

Error Handling

WebDAV uses standard HTTP status codes plus a handful of WebDAV-specific ones (RFC 4918).

HTTP Status	Meaning	Typical Cause
`400`	Bad Request	Malformed path, invalid `depth`, missing required parameter
`401`	Unauthorized	Wrong username / password, expired or revoked Bearer token
`403`	Forbidden	The configured user does not have the WebDAV permission required for the operation, or the path falls outside `allowedPath`
`404`	Not Found	The path does not exist on the server
`405`	Method Not Allowed	Calling a method (e.g. `MKCOL`) on a path that already exists
`409`	Conflict	`createDirectory` called on a path whose parent does not exist (`MKCOL` parent missing)
`412`	Precondition Failed	`move`/`copy` with `overwrite: false` but the destination already exists
`423`	Locked	Another client holds a WebDAV lock on the resource — retry later
`429`	Rate Limited	Provider throttling (Nextcloud rate limits, reverse-proxy WAF)
`507`	Insufficient Storage	The user is over quota on the provider
`500` / `502` / `503`	Server Error	Transient error from the upstream server or proxy. Retry with exponential backoff

Common Issues

“Not configured” — The app instance is missing either baseUrl or the credentials for the chosen type (Basic or token). Fill in the configuration. “Invalid API key” (MCP) — The mcp-api-key header does not match the central app secret. Reinstall the app instance to regenerate a signed key. “Credentials lookup failed” — The MCP endpoint could not reach the getConfig webhook of the installed app. Verify that the app instance is still installed in the expected workspace. Nextcloud / ownCloud 401 with the right password — Two-factor authentication on the account requires an app password. Create one in Security → Devices & sessions and use it as the password. “Path outside allowed subtree” (403) — The resolved path is not under the configured allowedPath. Either widen the allow-list or rewrite the call to a path within it. getTree times out on a large folder — Prefer list with depth: 1 and recurse from the client, or use search with dateFrom/dateTo to scope the request. upload with binary content fails — The content parameter is a string. For binary payloads, stage the file elsewhere (a previously uploaded file in WebDAV, a public URL, etc.) and use copy or an out-of-band upload. The MCP server does not currently accept base64-encoded content. Trailing slashes — Some WebDAV servers are strict about trailing slashes on directories. If a directory listing returns 404, retry with a trailing /.

Browse

Read & Write

Organize

Prerequisites

Installation

Configuration

Available Instructions

Files & Directories

DSUL Examples

List the contents of a folder

Download a file and decode its content

Upload a generated PDF

Move yesterday’s exports to an archive folder

Search for recent reports by name

Walk a full directory tree

Plug into an Agent Creator capability

Legacy MCP Install (Advanced > Tools)

Output Formats

Available Tools

`files`

Tool Details

`files` (action: `list`)

`files` (action: `upload`)

`files` (action: `move`)

`files` (action: `search`)

`files` (action: `getTree`)

Error Handling

Common Issues

External Resources

WebDAV (RFC 4918)

Tool Agents

Documentation Index

Browse

Read & Write

Organize

​Prerequisites

​Installation

​Configuration

​Available Instructions

​Files & Directories

​DSUL Examples

​List the contents of a folder

​Download a file and decode its content

​Upload a generated PDF

​Move yesterday’s exports to an archive folder

​Search for recent reports by name

​Walk a full directory tree

​Plug into an Agent Creator capability

​Legacy MCP Install (Advanced > Tools)

​Output Formats

​Available Tools

​files

​Tool Details

​files (action: list)

​files (action: upload)

​files (action: move)

​files (action: search)

​files (action: getTree)

​Error Handling

​Common Issues

​External Resources

WebDAV (RFC 4918)

Tool Agents

Prerequisites

Installation

Configuration

Available Instructions

Files & Directories

DSUL Examples

List the contents of a folder

Download a file and decode its content

Upload a generated PDF

Move yesterday’s exports to an archive folder

Search for recent reports by name

Walk a full directory tree

Plug into an Agent Creator capability

Legacy MCP Install (Advanced > Tools)

Output Formats

Available Tools

`files`

Tool Details

`files` (action: `list`)

`files` (action: `upload`)

`files` (action: `move`)

`files` (action: `search`)

`files` (action: `getTree`)

Error Handling

Common Issues

External Resources