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

# Introduction

> Ardie - Knowledge Infrastructure for AI Systems

## What is Ardie?

Ardie is a **knowledge infrastructure service** that allows individuals and organisations to turn documents, websites, and other authorised sources into **secure, reusable knowledge bases accessed via APIs**.

Instead of locking knowledge into a single chatbot or application, Ardie separates **knowledge ingestion, retrieval, and access control** from user interfaces and language models. Knowledge bases can be queried by websites, internal tools, chat interfaces, agents, and external applications using standard APIs—enabling the same curated knowledge to be reused consistently across many contexts.

<Card title="Get Started in 5 Minutes" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart" horizontal>
  Follow our quickstart guide to make your first API call.
</Card>

## The Problem

Organisations increasingly rely on AI systems, but their knowledge is:

* **Scattered** across documents and websites
* **Duplicated** across multiple tools
* **Difficult to control**, audit, and share
* **Costly** to re-ingest and maintain

Most "chatbot" solutions bundle ingestion, retrieval, and generation together, making knowledge hard to reuse, hard to govern, and expensive to scale.

## How Ardie Solves This

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Structured Ingestion" icon="file-import">
    Transform documents and web sources into queryable knowledge bases with proper indexing and metadata.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Controlled Access" icon="shield-check">
    API keys, permissions, and usage limits ensure you control who accesses your knowledge and how much.
  </Card>

  <Card title="High-Quality Retrieval" icon="magnifying-glass">
    Vector search with citations and provenance—every answer traces back to its source.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Flexible Consumption" icon="plug">
    Use knowledge bases in chatbots, forms, workflows, research tools, or agent systems.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cost Control" icon="gauge">
    Token-based subscriptions, managed or bring-your-own embedding options, and optional local processing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Marketplace Model" icon="store">
    Share or sell access to knowledge bases. Consumers pay only for the access and usage they need.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Who Is Ardie For?

<Columns cols={3}>
  <Card title="Organisations" icon="building">
    Need a reliable knowledge layer for websites, internal tools, and AI systems.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Developers" icon="code">
    Need a clean retrieval API to plug into any RAG pipeline.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Content Owners" icon="book">
    Want to package and license knowledge as a reusable digital asset.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## What Makes Ardie Different

<Note>
  **Ardie is not a chatbot.** It is a **knowledge layer** that chatbots and other systems can use.
</Note>

By decoupling knowledge from presentation and generation, Ardie supports better governance, reuse, and long-term sustainability of AI-powered systems.

## Get Started

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart Guide" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Create an account, browse knowledge bases, and make your first API call in 5 minutes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API Documentation" icon="book" href="/api-reference/introduction">
    Learn how to authenticate and query knowledge bases programmatically.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Browse Marketplace" icon="store" href="/marketplace/browsing">
    Explore curated knowledge bases across Education, Policy, Health, Research, and Legal.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Core Concepts" icon="lightbulb" href="/concepts/knowledge-bases">
    Understand how knowledge bases, API keys, and pricing work.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>