Hubs Workspaces

Hubs Workspaces

Box Hubs (Enterprise Plus and above) is a newer content-organization feature with first-class AI Q&A across up to 20,000 files per Hub. The plugin can create a Hub-backed workspace instead of a folder-backed one via /box-init --as-hub.

When to use a Hub workspace

• You expect >25 files in regular AI Q&A scope (above the multi-doc Ask cap)
• You're on Enterprise Plus or higher
• You want Box-managed indexed Q&A without operating your own vector store

For smaller workspaces, a folder-backed workspace is simpler and cheaper.

What box-init --as-hub does

1. Verifies tier is Enterprise Plus
2. Calls POST /2.0/hubs via the Box MCP to create a new Hub
3. Records workspace_type: "hub" + the Hub ID in _box-memory.json
4. Surfaces the Hub indexing warm-up window — ~10 minutes before Box AI Hubs Q&A returns non-empty results for newly-added files
5. Reports the new workspace ready

How recall routes for Hub workspaces

box-recall and box-ai-recall detect workspace_type and adjust:

Workspace type	Tier	box-recall path	box-ai-recall path
folder	Personal	_index.json	(not available)
folder	Business+	index + Metadata Query	multi-doc Ask (up to 25 files)
hub	Enterprise Plus	index (Hub items)	Hubs Q&A (up to 20k files)
hub (warm-up window)	Enterprise Plus	index	falls through to multi-doc Ask

Hub indexing warm-up

When a Hub is newly created or has recently-added items:

• AI Ask via items.type=hubs may return empty results for ~10 minutes
• Direct file metadata reads still work
• The plugin tracks hub.created_at and hub.last_item_added_at
• If either is within the last 10 minutes, box-ai-recall auto-routes through multi-doc Ask instead (and surfaces a clear message)

See Operational Notes Note 7 for the full pattern.

Hub item management

The plugin adds items to a Hub on every memory write:

1. Write the memory file (same as folder workspaces)
2. Call POST /2.0/hubs/{id}/manage-items to add to the Hub
3. Update hub.last_item_added_at

Removals work similarly — when a memory is status: archived and the user opts to clean up, items can be removed from the Hub.

Limits

• 20,000 files per Hub (Box's hard cap)
• 10M files org-wide across all Hubs
• One Hub per workspace recommended

If you'll exceed 20k files, split into multiple Hub workspaces (each with its own _box-memory.json).

ACLs on Hubs

Hub access is controlled by Hub Collaborations (Box's API). The plugin doesn't manage these — set them in Box admin or via the Box MCP's Hub Collaboration tools.

Cost considerations

• Creating a Hub: no AI Unit cost
• Adding items to a Hub: no AI Unit cost
• Hubs Q&A via AI Ask: AI Units consumed per query (same as multi-doc Ask)
• Enterprise Plus includes 2,000 AI Units/month default

See Box AI Units.

When to choose Hub vs folder

Factor	Folder workspace	Hub workspace
Tier	All	Enterprise Plus+
Max files for AI recall	25 per query	20,000 indexed
Setup complexity	Simple	Slightly more (Hub create + items)
Indexing latency	None	~10 min warm-up
AI Units per call	1+	1+
ACL model	Folder ACLs	Hub Collaborations

For most use cases on Enterprise Plus, a Hub workspace is the better long-term choice. For ad-hoc or smaller workspaces, folder is simpler.

See also

• box-init — --as-hub flag
• box-ai-recall — Hub-mode routing
• Box AI Integration — AI features in depth
• Operational Notes Note 7 — Hub indexing warm-up
• Box Hubs API guide