---
layout: 'page'
uri: '/ai-integration/ai-chat'
position: 3
slug: 'ai-integration-ai-chat'
parent: 'ai-integration'
navTitle: 'AI chat'
title: 'AI chat'
description: 'An optional, grounded "chat with your documentation" assistant that answers visitor questions with verified citations back to your pages.'
---

# AI chat

Documan ships an optional **AI chat assistant** — a "chat with your documentation"
experience embedded in your docs site. Visitors ask questions in natural language and
get answers **grounded** in your pages, with verified citations back to the source.

Under the hood, a lead agent works over the same documentation tools your
[MCP server](/ai-integration/mcp-setup) exposes, and can escalate a broad, multi-part
question to several research sub-agents running in parallel. Answers may only cite pages
the assistant actually read, and citation titles come from the server — never the model —
so the assistant cannot invent sources.

The assistant is **off by default** and uses its **own Anthropic API key**, independent
of the OpenAI key used for semantic search.


## Setup

All settings are environment variables. See **[AI chat configuration](/configuration/ai-chat)**
for the full reference — enabling the assistant, choosing models, pointing at a custom
endpoint, and the cost/abuse limits to set on a public site.

---

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