The in-docs AI chat — ask questions, get cited answers from the Virtuous docs, attach files and images, and skip the hunt-and-peck. How to use it well and when to reach for it instead of search
The Virtuous API Docs include a built-in AI Assistant — a chat panel that answers your questions using the actual content of the docs. Ask anything about the Virtuous APIs, and the assistant searches the documentation in real time, returns answers grounded in the docs, and cites specific pages so you can dive deeper.This isn’t the same as your external AI tools (Cursor, Claude Code, etc.) — those connect to the MCP server and pull docs into their workflows. The AI Assistant is built into docs.virtuous.org itself and works in your browser.
Cmd + I (macOS) or Ctrl + I (Windows/Linux) — from anywhere in the docs
Assistant button
Next to the search bar at the top of the page
Assistant bar
At the bottom of the page on most screens
URL parameter
Add ?assistant to any docs URL to open the assistant when the page loads
URL parameter with question
Add ?assistant=<your-question> (URL-encoded) to open the assistant pre-loaded with a question
The chat panel opens on the right side of the page. The page you were reading stays open behind it — useful when you want to read along with the conversation.
When you ask a question, the assistant uses the page you’re reading as context. This means follow-up questions often work better than full-context restatements:
Less effective
More effective (with page context)
“What does the CRM+ Contact create endpoint return?” (asked from a random page)
Same question asked from the Contact Create workflow page
”What’s the difference between Concepts and Workflows?” (general)
“How is this concept used in actual workflows?” (asked from a Concepts page)
“Show me the audit findings” (general)
“Which audit findings are referenced here?” (asked from a specific page)
For best results, navigate to the most relevant page first, then ask. The assistant will combine the page content with the question to produce a contextually-aware answer.
Sometimes the question you want to ask is about a specific piece of text on the page. The assistant supports this directly:
Highlight the text or code block you want to ask about
Click the Add to assistant button that appears
The assistant chat panel opens with that text included as context
Type your question (or use one of the assistant’s suggested follow-ups)
This works for prose text and for code blocks. The “Ask AI” button is also available within code blocks specifically — useful when you’re looking at a complex code sample and want to understand it.You can add multiple highlights to a single conversation. The assistant uses them all as context.
For questions where the answer depends on something the docs don’t know about — your existing code, a screenshot of an error, your data structure — you can attach files to the assistant chat.
”How do I integrate this OpenAPI schema with the Virtuous API?”
The OpenAPI JSON/YAML
”Does this data match the expected shape for /users?”
A sample of your data (sanitized) as JSON
”How should I model this in my Postgres schema?”
A screenshot or SQL of your current schema
The assistant treats attached files as context for its answer. It doesn’t store them after the conversation — they’re used to generate the response, not retained.
Don’t attach files containing sensitive data. Customer data, API tokens, production secrets, internal credentials — none of this should be pasted into the assistant. The assistant is for documentation help, not for processing sensitive material.
How the assistant handles questions it can’t answer
If the assistant searches the docs and doesn’t find content that answers your question, it’ll say so directly rather than fabricating an answer. You’ll typically see something like:
“I don’t have information about that in the Virtuous documentation. You may want to contact the Virtuous support team for this question.”
When this happens, your options are:
Option
When to use it
Rephrase the question
Sometimes the docs do cover the topic but the assistant needs a different angle
The assistant searches the published Virtuous API Docs — everything you can see at docs.virtuous.org. A few specifics:
Content
Indexed
All published pages in CRM+, Raise, Volunteer, Virtuous tabs
✓
OpenAPI specifications
✓
Code examples and snippets in docs
✓
Embedded diagrams and tables
✓ (the textual content)
Draft branches or preview deployments
✗ Not indexed
Hidden pages (unless explicitly opted in)
✗ Not by default
This means the assistant answers from the current published state of the docs. As content is updated, the assistant’s answers reflect the updates immediately.
