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

# Ask

> Ask a natural language question about a project.

Ask a natural language question about a project. Retrieves relevant context via hybrid search and synthesizes a concise answer with source citations. Use this for direct questions; use [`Search`](/mcp/tools/search) when you need raw results to reason over.

## When to Use

* The user asks a direct question about their project (e.g., "What fire rating does door 104 have?")
* You want a concise, sourced answer without manually processing search results
* Quick fact lookups where a synthesized answer is more useful than raw chunks

<Tip>
  Use `Ask` when the user wants a direct answer. Use [`Search`](/mcp/tools/search) when you need the raw text chunks to do your own analysis or cross-referencing.
</Tip>

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| - | - | - | - |
| `project_id` | string | yes | Project ID to ask about |
| `question` | string | yes | Natural language question (2-2000 chars) |

## Response

```json theme={null}
{
  "answer": "Door 104 has a 45-minute fire rating according to the Door Schedule on sheet A-501. It is a hollow metal door with hardware set HW-3.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "source_type": "block",
      "source_id": "blk_door_sched",
      "label": "Sheet A-501",
      "score": 0.94
    },
    {
      "source_type": "block",
      "source_id": "blk_a101_notes",
      "label": "Sheet A-101",
      "score": 0.87
    }
  ]
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
| - | - | - |
| `answer` | string | Synthesized answer (2-4 sentences) |
| `sources` | array | Top sources used to generate the answer |
| `sources[].source_type` | string | `"block"`, `"feature"`, or `"file"` |
| `sources[].source_id` | string | Entity ID for follow-up queries |
| `sources[].label` | string | Human-readable source label (e.g., sheet number or file name) |
| `sources[].score` | number | Relevance score |

## Examples

### Ask about a specific feature

```json theme={null}
{
  "project_id": "prj_abc",
  "question": "What fire rating does door 104 have?"
}
```

### Ask about project-wide specifications

```json theme={null}
{
  "project_id": "prj_abc",
  "question": "What concrete mix design is specified for the foundation?"
}
```

## Related Tools

* [`Search`](/mcp/tools/search) - Get raw search results instead of a synthesized answer
* [`Query`](/mcp/tools/query) - Structured queries when you know the exact entity and filters


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.