Stirling

Stirling Cloud AI

Stirling Cloud AI runs the AI features of your self-hosted Stirling PDF on Stirling Cloud. There is no engine container to run, no model provider key to hold, and no models to choose. Usage is billed to the Stirling account the server is linked to.

AI connection settings with Off, Run your own engine, and Use Stirling Cloud AI

Before you start#

  • Link the server to a Stirling account; see Account linking. Only the organization owner can link a server.
  • Sign in to Stirling PDF as an administrator.

Turn it on#

  1. Open Settings → Server → AI Engine.
  2. Under Connection, select Use Stirling Cloud AI. It stays unavailable until the server is linked.
  3. Choose whether to Let Stirling Cloud keep indexed documents; see Document questions.
  4. Save, then restart Stirling PDF.

Once connected, Status at the top of the page shows Running on Stirling Cloud.

You can also set it in configuration:

yaml
aiEngine:
  enabled: true
  mode: CLOUD
  cloudDocumentIndexing: true
bash
AIENGINE_ENABLED=true
AIENGINE_MODE=CLOUD
AIENGINE_CLOUDDOCUMENTINDEXING=true
yaml
services:
  stirling-pdf:
    environment:
      AIENGINE_ENABLED: "true"
      AIENGINE_MODE: CLOUD
      AIENGINE_CLOUDDOCUMENTINDEXING: "true"

Document questions#

Your PDF files stay on your server. Stirling Cloud receives only the text each AI tool needs to answer.

Let Stirling Cloud keep indexed documents lets Stirling Cloud keep that text, indexed, so later questions can search across a document. Indexed text is deleted automatically after 24 hours by default, and sooner when the user signs out.

When it is off, Stirling Cloud does not keep any document text, and document questions are unavailable.

What changes in this mode#

  • Models & Providers and Documents & RAG settings are managed by Stirling Cloud, so they do not apply.
  • Processor's Ingestion needs your own engine to prepare searchable chunks.
  • Capabilities and Limits & Performance still apply; see AI Tools and the AI Settings Reference.
  • Whatever the AI reads is processed by Stirling Cloud rather than on your own hardware. To keep documents in-house, run your own engine with local models instead.

To stop using Stirling Cloud AI, choose Off or Run your own engine, then restart Stirling PDF.

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