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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://dev.chief.bot/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

This guide takes you from zero to a completed chat response. For authentication and HTTP semantics, see Introduction.

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Prerequisites

  • A Chief account with access to a project
  • A PAT from Settings → API tokens
  • Your project id (project_…)
Export variables for the examples: 
export CHIEF_API_KEY="pat_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
export CHIEF_PROJECT_ID="project_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
export CHIEF_BASE_URL="https://api.storytell.ai"

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Start a chat

POST /v1/chats starts an async workflow and returns ids immediately: 
curl -sS -X POST "$CHIEF_BASE_URL/v1/chats" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $CHIEF_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Project-Id: $CHIEF_PROJECT_ID" \
  -d '{"prompt": "What are the three most important themes in our Q2 launch docs?"}'
Example response (202 Accepted): 
{
  "chat_id": "chat_d8aad64dib2c7m3ae7j0",
  "message_id": "message_d8aad64dib2c7m3ae7jg",
  "created_at": "2026-05-23T10:15:30Z"
}

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Poll for the response

Poll until response appears on the message: 
CHAT_ID="chat_d8aad64dib2c7m3ae7j0"
MESSAGE_ID="message_d8aad64dib2c7m3ae7jg"

curl -sS "$CHIEF_BASE_URL/v1/chats/$CHAT_ID/messages/$MESSAGE_ID" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $CHIEF_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Project-Id: $CHIEF_PROJECT_ID"
Use exponential backoff between polls and cap total wait time in production.

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Continue the conversation

curl -sS -X POST "$CHIEF_BASE_URL/v1/chats/$CHAT_ID/messages" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $CHIEF_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Project-Id: $CHIEF_PROJECT_ID" \
  -d '{"prompt": "Summarize that in three bullet points."}'

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Next steps

  • Chats guide — scope, intelligence modes, and listing
  • Assets guide — upload files for use in scope
  • API reference → Chats → Start a chat — full request schema