For Docusaurus v3

Ask AI for your Docusaurus docs

Q: Will it work with my Docusaurus version?

The docusaurus-biel plugin is built for Docusaurus v3. v2 sites can use biel-react with a small Footer wrapper. Both routes ship the same widget.

Q: How long does the install take?

Install the package and add one plugin entry to docusaurus.config.js. Indexing time depends on the size of the site.

Drop in docusaurus-biel and your site gets two connected surfaces: a page-search modal with Ask AI, and a separate chatbot for source-linked answers. One config block. Multilingual out of the box.

Add Biel to Docusaurus See the install code

14-day freeSelf-serveLive in 15 min

docs.acme.dev/api/webhooks

Acme Docs

DocsAPIBlog

Search docs⌘K

Webhook retry policy

Acme retries failed webhook deliveries automatically using exponential backoff. The retry policy is configured per-endpoint via the dashboard or the API.

# Configure retry policy
curl -X POST https://api.acme.dev/v1/webhooks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_..." \
  -d '{"retry_policy": "exponential"}'

By default, Acme retries up to 8 times over a 24-hour window. Each retry waits twice as long…

100,000+ technical questions answered, 98.7% rated helpful

Install

Three ways to ship Biel on Docusaurus

A floating Ask AI chatbot, a page-search modal that can replace DocSearch and hand queries to chat, or a hosted MCP endpoint Claude and Cursor can query directly.

Full installation guide

Add the chatbot widget

The standard install. The docusaurus-biel plugin drops a floating Ask AI button onto every page. Two lines in docusaurus.config.js, no theme changes, no swizzling.

→Floating button on every page
→Five button positions, dark or light
→Modal can dock right or float center
→Compatible with DocSearch (run both)

docusaurus.config.js

// 1. npm install docusaurus-biel
// 2. Add the plugin to docusaurus.config.js

module.exports = {
  // ...
  plugins: [
    [
      'docusaurus-biel',
      {
        project: '<YOUR_PROJECT_ID>',
        headerTitle: 'Documentation AI',
        version: 'latest',
      },
    ],
  ],
};

Replace DocSearch with Biel search

Swizzle the classic theme’s SearchBar component and render <biel-search-button> in its place. The Biel modal returns matching pages and offers an Ask AI handoff to the chatbot. The navbar position stays where users expect it.

→Drop-in replacement for DocSearch
→Keeps ⌘K shortcut
→Page results with an Ask AI handoff
→Algolia themeConfig entry can be removed

src/theme/SearchBar.tsx

// 1. npm run swizzle @docusaurus/theme-classic SearchBar
//    Choose: TypeScript, then Eject.
// 2. Replace SearchBar.tsx with the snippet below.

import React from 'react';

export default function SearchBar() {
  const projectId = '<YOUR_PROJECT_ID>';
  const headerTitle = 'Documentation AI';
  // @ts-ignore: web component, not a React component
  return (
    <biel-search-button
      project={projectId}
      button-style="rounded"
      header-title={headerTitle}
    >
      Search
    </biel-search-button>
  );
}

Make your docs queryable by AI agents

Every Biel project ships with a hosted MCP endpoint. Claude, Cursor, Cline, and other MCP-compatible assistants can search your docs directly. Configure once in mcp.json or your editor’s MCP settings.

→Hosted MCP server, no self-hosting
→Same index as the chatbot, one source of truth
→Works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Zed
→Auth via project token, scoped per-workspace

mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "biel-ai": {
      "name": "Biel.ai",
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.biel.ai/v2/YOUR_PROJECT_SLUG/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Biel.ai vs Algolia DocSearch for Docusaurus

Where DocSearch wins, where Biel.ai adds value, where the two complement each other on a typical Docusaurus site.

Dimension	Algolia DocSearch	Biel.ai
Query type	Keyword and title matching. Returns a list of pages, ranked by relevance.	Keyword page results, with Ask AI for natural-language questions and source-linked answers.
Source attribution	Page title and URL fragment. User clicks through to find the relevant section.	Direct quote with a link to the exact page and section it came from.
Multi-source	Indexes one Docusaurus site at a time. Combining sources requires custom work.	Index multiple Docusaurus instances, blogs, GitHub repos, or PDFs in one project.
Analytics	Algolia provides query volume and click-through data. No content-gap signal.	Unanswered questions, satisfaction trends, and a Content Gaps view that updates daily.
Languages	Strong multilingual keyword search via Algolia's language analyzers.	Answers in 60+ languages, including languages your docs are not written in.
Install complexity	Apply for the free OSS program, configure the crawler, wire into themeConfig.	npm install docusaurus-biel and add a plugin entry. Live in 15 minutes.
Hosting	Algolia US/EU clusters, depending on plan tier.	Supports GDPR compliance, with EU data residency available on Enterprise plans. Customer content is not used to train models.
Cost	Free for OSS via DocSearch program. Paid Algolia tiers scale with query volume.	Self-serve. 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

Things teams ask during evaluation

Will it work with my Docusaurus version?

The docusaurus-biel plugin is built for Docusaurus v3. v2 sites can use biel-react with a small Footer wrapper. Both routes ship the same widget.

Can we keep DocSearch?

Yes. Keep DocSearch for page lookup and add Biel’s chatbot separately. Or replace DocSearch with Biel’s page-search widget; its Ask AI action sends the current query to the chatbot.

Does it work on Vercel, Netlify, and GitHub Pages?

Yes. The plugin adds scripts at build time, the widget loads from a CDN, and indexing runs against your live URL. No server requirements and no host-specific config.

What about translations and i18n?

Each locale your Docusaurus site builds is indexed as a separate source. A reader on the Spanish version gets Spanish answers, with citations resolving to the right /es/ URL.

Can we keep our swizzled theme?

Yes. The widget is a web component, not a React component, so it does not touch src/theme/ overrides. The SearchBar swap is opt-in and only replaces the search surface. It does not affect anything else you have swizzled.

How long does the install take?

Install the package and add one plugin entry to docusaurus.config.js. Indexing time depends on the size of the site.

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