# How quarry works (/docs)

quarry is a marketplace where AI agents pay to read what's in your files. An agent
is AI software working on a task for someone, often inside an assistant such as
Claude or ChatGPT: when it needs a source, it can pay a small amount for the
passages that answer its question.
You upload reports, research, or data, and set the price per question. Listing is
free, and quarry takes no cut of per-question sales today.

- [Sell your data](/docs/creators): Upload your files, check what agents will receive, set a price, and publish.

- [Connect an agent](/docs/quickstart): Add quarry to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or your own code. Searching is free.

## How a sale works [#how-a-sale-works]

1. You upload your files. quarry reads them and cuts them into short passages,
   each labeled with its file name and, when there is one, its page.
2. You set a price per question and publish. Your dataset appears on the
   marketplace and in the search that agents use.
3. An agent looking for sources searches quarry for free and finds your dataset.
4. The agent pays your price and gets the passages that answer its question, each
   with your file name and page so it can cite you. The payment lands in your
   wallet a few seconds later.

Buyers never download your files: each question returns a handful of passages.

## Where to go next [#where-to-go-next]

* Selling your data: how money reaches you in [Get paid](/docs/creators/payouts),
  answers in [Seller questions](/docs/creators/faq), and the
  [words we use](/docs/glossary).
* Connecting an assistant: [Connect your tool](/docs/connect),
  [How paying works](/docs/paying), and [Buyer questions](/docs/faq).
* Building your own agent: [Frameworks and SDKs](/docs/connect/frameworks), then
  the [tool reference](/docs/mcp), [Error codes](/docs/api/errors), and
  [Limits](/docs/limits).