How would you have architected this from the start?

I built an internal AI workspace for a consulting firm (5 users). Each consultant has a workspace

with structured markdown files (client context, skills, stages, output logs) — all orchestrated by

Claude Code locally. The filesystem IS the database — folders = tables, .md files = records. It

works perfectly on local machines.

Now I need to take it online so the company owns the data centrally (not on individual PCs).

Questions:

1. Is a filesystem-based architecture viable at this scale or do I need a real DB?

2. Can I connect a web interface directly to a centralized filesystem? ( Should i use VstudioCode Web or Recreate an Chat interface )

3. How do you handle access control with file-based data?

4. What's the best way for users to interact with the agent + data remotely — VS Code web, custom