For Zensical & Material for MkDocs

Ask AI for your Zensical site

Drop in a page-search widget with Ask AI and a separate assistant through a template override. Includes source-linked answers and Content Gaps. Works with the Material for MkDocs successor.

Add Biel to Zensical See the install code

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Used by documentation and developer-experience teams

Install

Three ways to ship Biel on Zensical

A floating Ask AI assistant, a page-search input with an Ask AI handoff, or a hosted MCP endpoint Claude and Cursor can query directly.

Full installation guide

Add the assistant via a custom_dir override

Zensical supports the same template overrides as Material for MkDocs. Create overrides/main.html, drop the widget into a Jinja block, and point zensical.toml at it (or your existing mkdocs.yml).

→Floating Ask AI button on every page
→Five button positions, dark or light
→Configured in zensical.toml or mkdocs.yml
→Reads your existing Material overrides

overrides/main.html

# 1. Add to zensical.toml:
#   [project.theme]
#   custom_dir = "overrides"

{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block extrahead %}
<link rel="stylesheet"
  href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/biel-search/dist/biel-search/biel-search.css">
<script type="module"
  src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/biel-search/dist/biel-search/biel-search.esm.js">
</script>
{% endblock %}

{% block content %}
{{ super() }}
<biel-button
  project="<YOUR_PROJECT_ID>"
  header-title="Documentation AI"
  button-position="bottom-right"
  modal-position="bottom-right"
  button-style="dark">
    Ask AI
</biel-button>
{% endblock %}

Add the search widget with Ask AI

Same template override, swap the component. <biel-search-button> renders a search input that returns matching pages and offers an Ask AI handoff to the assistant.

→Drop-in page-search field
→Page results with an Ask AI handoff
→Runs alongside Zensical's built-in search
→Same Jinja override, different element

overrides/main.html

{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block extrahead %}
<link rel="stylesheet"
  href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/biel-search/dist/biel-search/biel-search.css">
<script type="module"
  src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/biel-search/dist/biel-search/biel-search.esm.js">
</script>
{% endblock %}

{% block header %}
{{ super() }}
<biel-search-button
  project="<YOUR_PROJECT_ID>"
  header-title="Documentation AI"
  button-style="rounded">
    Search
</biel-search-button>
{% endblock %}

Make your docs queryable by AI agents

Hosted MCP is available from $150/month. Enable it for your Biel project to give compatible AI tools access to the same indexed documentation. Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible assistants can search your Zensical site directly. Configure once in mcp.json or your editor’s MCP settings.

→Hosted MCP server, no self-hosting
→Same index as the assistant, one source of truth
→Works with Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor
→Private projects require a project-scoped API key

mcp.json

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

Biel.ai vs Zensical's built-in search

Honest read. Zensical's built-in search is fast and free. Biel provides its own page-search widget plus an Ask AI handoff to the assistant. Many docs sites run both.

Dimension	Zensical search	Biel.ai
Query type	Keyword and prefix matching, run client-side.	Semantic page results, with Ask AI for natural-language questions and source-linked answers.
Source attribution	A list of pages and headings where the keyword appears.	Direct answer plus a link to the specific page and section it came from.
Migrating from Material for MkDocs	Zensical reads your existing mkdocs.yml and template overrides.	A Biel widget installed on Material for MkDocs carries over unchanged.
Keyboard shortcuts	f, s, /, p, n shortcuts hijack input fields globally; can fight third-party widgets.	Ships with a small shim that releases keystrokes when the chat is focused.
Analytics	No content-gap signal out of the box.	Unanswered questions, satisfaction trends, and a Content Gaps view that updates daily.
Languages	Search stemming covers a fixed set of language packs.	Answers in 60+ languages, including languages your docs are not written in.
Install	Built into Zensical. No install required.	Template override at overrides/main.html. Indexing time depends on site size.
Cost	Free, included with Zensical.	Self-serve. 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

Before you install

Does it work with Zensical?

Yes. Add the widget through a template override configured in zensical.toml or mkdocs.yml. Your docs stay on Zensical.

I'm migrating from Material for MkDocs. Does my widget still work?

Yes, existing template overrides can carry over. Keep your overrides directory configured and check the widget after rebuilding the site.

Can we keep Zensical's built-in search?

Yes. Keep Zensical search, replace it with Biel's page-search widget, or run both. The Biel assistant remains a separate surface, and Ask AI can carry a search query into it.

Will keyboard shortcuts interfere with chat?

The install guide shows how to keep Zensical’s keyboard shortcuts from interrupting typing in the chat widget. Follow that setup if you use the built-in shortcuts.

What languages does it support?

Readers can ask in 60+ languages, even if your docs are only in English. Answers use the language of the question and link to supporting pages.

Make your Zensical site answer questions

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Use a different platform? See our integration pages for MkDocs, Starlight, Docusaurus, Sphinx, and Antora.