Set up a Box data store

This page describes how to create a data store and connect Box to Gemini Enterprise.

Before you begin

Before you set up your Box connection, do the following:

1. Grant the Discovery Engine Editor role (roles/discoveryengine.editor). This role is required for the user to create the data store. To grant this role, do the following:
   1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the IAM page.

      Go to IAM

   2. Locate the user account and click edit Edit.
   3. Grant the Discovery Engine Editor role to the user. For more information, see IAM roles and permissions.

Create the Box data store

To create the Box data store, follow these steps:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Gemini Enterprise page.

   Go to Gemini Enterprise

2. Click Data stores in the navigation menu.

3. Click Create data store.

4. In the Third-party connectors section, select Box.

5. In the Specify connection name and ID section, update the Connection name and Connection ID.

6. Click Continue.

Note: Box uses Google-managed OAuth. You don't need to create your own OAuth application or provide a client ID and client secret. You authorize the connector with your Box account when you enable connector in app.

1. In the Data section:

   1. For Unused Authorization Parameters, enter any placeholder value, such as Placeholder (this is a required but unused field).

   2. Click Continue.

   3. In the Entities to search section, select the entities that you want Gemini Enterprise to search. For Box, select Box MCP.

2. Click Continue.

3. If the create data store flow shows an Advanced options section, you can select the Enable Static IP Addresses checkbox within it. This ensures the data store uses a fixed set of IP addresses for outbound traffic, suitable for allowlisting on the source system. For more information, see Configure static IP egress.

4. In the Configuration section:

   1. From the Multi-region list, select the location for your data connector.
   2. In the Your data connector name field, enter a name for your connector.
   3. If you selected us or eu as the location, configure the Encryption settings:
      • Optional: If you haven't configured single-region keys, click Go to settings page to do so. For more information, see Register a single-region key for third-party connectors.
      • Select Google-managed encryption key or Cloud KMS key.
      • If you selected Cloud KMS key:
        • In the Key management type list, select the appropriate type.
        • In the Cloud KMS key list, select the key.
      For more information, see Customer-managed encryption keys.

5. Click Continue.

6. In the Billing section, select General pricing or Configurable pricing. For more information, see Verify the billing status of your projects and Licenses.

7. Click Create.

On the Data Stores page, click your data store name to see the status. After the data store state changes from Creating to Active, the Box data store is ready to be used.

After creating the data store, connect the data store you just created to an existing app or create a new app and connect it to the new app, and authorize Gemini Enterprise to access Box before executing any queries.

Enable actions

By default, all actions are turned off. When you connect Box, all of its tools are imported and displayed as actions in the Gemini Enterprise data store. To enable these actions for your users, follow these steps:

1. Go to your Box data store.

2. Click Actions > Reload custom actions to reauthenticate.

   Note: This action performs a tools/list call on the MCP server to retrieve available tools, which are then displayed on the screen.

3. Select the actions to enable.

4. Click Enable actions.

Data handling and query execution

This section describes how Gemini Enterprise manages your query and the privacy implications of using the federated data store.

Query execution

After you authorize Box and send a search query to Gemini Enterprise:

• Gemini Enterprise sends your search query directly to the Box API.
• Gemini Enterprise blends the results with those from other connected data sources and displays a comprehensive search result.

Data handling

When using third-party federated search, the following data handling rules apply:

• Your query string is sent to the third-party search backend (Box API).
• These third parties may associate queries with your identity.
• If multiple federated search data sources are enabled, the query might be sent to all of them.
• After the data reaches the third-party system, it is governed by that system's terms of service and privacy policies.

Note: To improve accuracy, an LLM may rewrite your query before it is sent to Box. This rewritten query can incorporate information from your session's query history. As a result, parts of your query history might also be included in the query sent to the Box API.

What's next

• To provide a user interface for querying your Box data, create an app and connect it to the Box data store.
• To preview how your search results appear after your app is set up, see Get search results.
• To enable alerts for the data store, see Configure alerts for third-party data stores.