> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.q-uestionable.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Assist CLI Reference

> Command reference for qai assist

Use `qai assist` to interact with the built-in assistant from the terminal. The assistant supports interactive chat, single-shot queries, piped input, and run context injection.

```bash theme={null}
qai assist --help
```

## qai assist (interactive)

Start an interactive REPL session. Conversation history is maintained for the duration of the session.

```bash theme={null}
qai assist
```

The assistant prints a header and waits for input. Type your question and press Enter. Type `exit`, `quit`, or `q` to end the session.

### Example

```
$ qai assist
qai assistant — type your question, 'exit' to quit.

> what scanners does audit have?
qai audit includes 10 scanner modules, one for each OWASP MCP Top 10 category...

> which ones check for prompt injection?
The injection scanner (MCP-01) tests for tool description poisoning...

> exit
```

Conversation history is ephemeral — it exists only for the current session and is not saved to disk.

## qai assist (single-shot)

Pass a question with `-q` for a one-off query with no persistent history.

```bash theme={null}
qai assist -q "how do I test an MCP server?"
```

The response streams to stdout. Useful for quick lookups and scripting.

### Examples

```bash theme={null}
# Ask about a specific module
qai assist -q "what document formats does IPI support?"

# Get CLI syntax help
qai assist -q "show me the command to run an inject campaign with ollama"

# Ask about frameworks
qai assist -q "which OWASP MCP Top 10 categories does audit cover?"
```

## Piped Input

Pipe external content into the assistant as additional context. The piped data is treated as untrusted scan-derived content.

```bash theme={null}
echo '{"findings": [{"title": "Tool description injection"}]}' | qai assist -q "explain these findings"
```

```bash theme={null}
cat scan-results.json | qai assist -q "summarize the high-severity issues"
```

The piped content is wrapped in untrusted content boundaries before being sent to the model. See [Trust Boundaries](/assist/trust-boundaries) for details.

## Run Context

Load findings from a specific database run and ask questions about them.

```bash theme={null}
qai assist --run <run-id> -q "summarize the findings"
```

### Options

| Flag    | Type   | Required | Description               |
| ------- | ------ | -------- | ------------------------- |
| `--run` | string | No       | Run ID to load as context |

### Examples

```bash theme={null}
# Summarize findings from run 42
qai assist --run 42 -q "what were the critical findings?"

# Ask for next steps based on scan results
qai assist --run 42 -q "what should I test next based on these results?"

# Map findings to frameworks
qai assist --run 42 -q "which OWASP MCP Top 10 categories do these findings map to?"
```

<Note>
  Run context is loaded from the qai database. The run must exist and contain findings. The loaded findings are treated as untrusted content — the same boundary markers apply as for piped input.
</Note>

## qai assist reindex

Force a rebuild of the knowledge base index. Re-scans product documentation and user knowledge files, regenerates embeddings, and updates the vector store.

```bash theme={null}
qai assist reindex
```

Use this after adding or modifying files in your user knowledge directory, or if the knowledge base seems stale. Under normal operation, the assistant detects file changes automatically via hash-based change detection on startup.

## Configuration Check

Before any query, the assistant validates that a provider and model are configured. If either is missing, it prints setup guidance and exits:

```
Assistant not configured. Set provider and model:
  qai config set assist.provider ollama
  qai config set assist.model llama3.1
```

See [Configuration](/assist/configuration) for full setup instructions.