README files
The first thing a developer reads in a project. Indexed as a primary source so quickstart and install instructions land in answers.
README.md, README.rst
For GitLab projects
Ask AI for your GitLab project
Connect a GitLab project once and Biel turns READMEs, docs folders, and code into source-cited answers for your customers and your team. gitlab.com or self-managed. Auto-sync via CI/CD.
14-day freeSelf-serveLive in 15 min
acme / sdk-python
What Biel reads
- 📄 README.md
- 📁 docs/
- 📁 src/
- 📄 CHANGELOG.md
→
Used by teams that take their documentation seriously
What Biel reads from your project
Four content types, one chatbot.
GitLab already hosts most of what your readers need. The job is to make it answerable in their words, with citations, on a surface that is not the GitLab project browser.
docs/ folder
Markdown, MyST, reStructuredText. Whatever lives in your docs folder, indexed at the file level so citations link to the right anchor.
docs/**/*.md
Source code
Any file in the repo can be indexed: docstrings, code comments, JSON schemas, even raw source. Configure include / exclude patterns per project.
src/**, *.py, *.json
GitLab Pages
If your project publishes a docs site to *.gitlab.io or a custom domain, point Biel at the live URL and it crawls the rendered HTML — Jekyll, Hugo, MkDocs, any builder.
docs.acme.dev
Setup
From signup to live chatbot in 15 minutes
Create an account, connect your project, automate the rest. No code on your side until you want auto-sync.
Full setup guide- 01
Create a Biel.ai account
Sign up at app.biel.ai. 14-day free trial, no credit card. Create a new project for the docs you want indexed. - 02
Connect your GitLab project
Paste the project URL in the dashboard. For private or self-managed GitLab, add a deploy token with theread_repositoryscope. Biel reads the default branch and crawls files matching your include patterns. - 03
Automate re-indexing on push
Drop a small.gitlab-ci.ymljob that calls the sync API when docs change, scoped withrules:changesso unrelated commits don’t trigger crawls. Or run it manually from the dashboard. - 04
Embed the chatbot
Add the Biel widget to your GitLab Pages site, your docs site, or any web property. Readers ask questions in plain language and get source-cited answers from the project you just connected.
Things teams ask during evaluation
Does it work with private and self-managed GitLab?
Yes. Add a deploy token with the
read_repository scope and Biel.ai connects to gitlab.com or any self-managed instance reachable from the public internet. Air-gapped instances can use the deploy upload path instead.Which file types are indexed?
Any text-based file in the repo: Markdown, MyST, reStructuredText, source code (with docstrings and comments), JSON / YAML schemas, plain text. Use include / exclude patterns per source to scope what gets read.
How does it stay in sync with our project?
Run a re-index from the dashboard whenever you want, or wire up a
.gitlab-ci.yml job that calls the sync API on push. Use rules:changes to scope to docs/** so unrelated commits do not trigger crawls.What if our docs span multiple projects or groups?
Add each as a separate source in one Biel.ai project. Answers can cite across projects, useful when an SDK, an API spec, and a tutorials project all need to feed the same chatbot.
How long does the install take?
Connect a project from the dashboard in two clicks. Under 15 minutes including the first crawl. The CI/CD job for auto-sync is one block in
.gitlab-ci.yml.Where does our content go?
EU-hosted by default. GDPR compliant. File contents are read for indexing only and never used to train models.
Make your GitLab docs answer questions
14-day free trial · No credit card required · From $50/mo
Use a different platform? See our integration pages for GitHub, Docusaurus, MkDocs, Sphinx, and Jekyll.