# Nia

> Index and search code repositories, documentation, research papers, HuggingFace datasets, local folders, Slack workspaces, and packages with Nia AI. Includes Oracle autonomous research, GitHub live search, dependency analysis, context sharing, and code advisor.

- Skill: `21st-dev/nia` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 19 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add 21st-dev/nia`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/21st-dev/nia/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector CAUTION)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: 21st-dev (https://skillmd.com/u/21st-dev)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/21st-dev/nia

---


# Nia Skill

Direct API access to [Nia](https://trynia.ai) for indexing and searching code repositories, documentation, research papers, HuggingFace datasets, local folders, Slack workspaces, and packages.

Nia provides tools for indexing and searching external repositories, research papers, documentation, packages, and performing AI-powered research. Its primary goal is to reduce hallucinations in LLMs and provide up-to-date context for AI agents.

## Setup

### Get your API key

IMPORTANT: The api key NIA_API_KEY must be ALREADY AVAILABLE in the environment variables.

Optionally store it in a config file:

```bash
mkdir -p ~/.config/nia
echo "your-api-key-here" > ~/.config/nia/api_key
```

> **Note:** `NIA_API_KEY` environment variable takes precedence over the config file.

### Requirements

- `curl`
- `jq`

## Nia-First Workflow

**BEFORE using web fetch or web search, you MUST:**
1. **Check ALL indexed sources first**: `./scripts/repos.sh list`, `./scripts/sources.sh list`, and `./scripts/slack.sh list`
2. **If source exists**: Use `search.sh query` (with `SLACK_WORKSPACES` env for Slack), `repos.sh grep`, `sources.sh read` for targeted queries
3. **If Slack workspace is connected**: Use `SLACK_WORKSPACES=<installation_id> ./scripts/search.sh query "question"` to search Slack messages, or `slack.sh grep` / `slack.sh messages` for direct access
4. **If source doesn't exist but you know the URL**: Index it with `repos.sh index` or `sources.sh index`, then search
5. **Only if source unknown**: Use `search.sh web` or `search.sh deep` to discover URLs, then index

**Why this matters**: Indexed sources provide more accurate, complete context than web fetches. Web fetch returns truncated/summarized content while Nia provides full source code and documentation.

**IMPORTANT**: `search.sh universal` does NOT search Slack workspaces. To search Slack, you MUST use `search.sh query` with the `SLACK_WORKSPACES` env var, or use `slack.sh grep` / `slack.sh messages` directly.

## Deterministic Workflow

1. Check if the source is already indexed using `repos.sh list` / `sources.sh list` / `slack.sh list`
2. If indexed, check the tree with `repos.sh tree` / `sources.sh tree` / `slack.sh channels <id>`
3. After getting the structure, use `search.sh query` (with `SLACK_WORKSPACES` for Slack), `repos.sh grep`, `repos.sh read` for targeted searches
4. Save findings in an .md file to track indexed sources for future use

## Notes

- **IMPORTANT**: Always prefer Nia over web fetch/search. Nia provides full, structured content while web tools give truncated summaries.
- For docs, always index the root link (e.g., docs.stripe.com) to scrape all pages.
- Indexing takes 1-5 minutes. Wait, then run list again to check status.
- All scripts use environment variables for optional parameters (e.g. `EXTRACT_BRANDING=true`).

## Scripts

All scripts are in `./scripts/` and use `lib.sh` for shared auth/curl helpers. Base URL: `https://apigcp.trynia.ai/v2`

Each script uses subcommands: `./scripts/<script>.sh <command> [args...]`
Run any script without arguments to see available commands and usage.

### sources.sh — Documentation & Data Source Management

```bash
./scripts/sources.sh index "https://docs.example.com" [limit]   # Index docs
./scripts/sources.sh list [type]                                  # List sources (documentation|research_paper|huggingface_dataset|local_folder|slack)
./scripts/sources.sh get <source_id> [type]                       # Get source details
./scripts/sources.sh resolve <identifier> [type]                  # Resolve name/URL to ID
./scripts/sources.sh update <source_id> [display_name] [cat_id]   # Update source
./scripts/sources.sh delete <source_id> [type]                    # Delete source
./scripts/sources.sh sync <source_id> [type]                      # Re-sync source
./scripts/sources.sh rename <source_id_or_name> <new_name>        # Rename source
./scripts/sources.sh subscribe <url> [source_type] [ref]          # Subscribe to global source
./scripts/sources.sh read <source_id> <path> [line_start] [end]   # Read content
./scripts/sources.sh grep <source_id> <pattern> [path]            # Grep content
./scripts/sources.sh tree <source_id>                             # Get file tree
./scripts/sources.sh ls <source_id> [path]                        # List directory
./scripts/sources.sh classification <source_id> [type]            # Get classification
./scripts/sources.sh assign-category <source_id> <cat_id|null>    # Assign category
./scripts/sources.sh upload-url <filename>                        # Get signed URL for file upload (PDF, CSV, TSV, XLSX, XLS)
./scripts/sources.sh bulk-delete <id:type> [id:type ...]          # Bulk delete resources
```

**Index environment variables**: `DISPLAY_NAME`, `FOCUS`, `EXTRACT_BRANDING`, `EXTRACT_IMAGES`, `IS_PDF`, `IS_SPREADSHEET`, `URL_PATTERNS`, `EXCLUDE_PATTERNS`, `MAX_DEPTH`, `WAIT_FOR`, `CHECK_LLMS_TXT`, `LLMS_TXT_STRATEGY`, `INCLUDE_SCREENSHOT`, `ONLY_MAIN_CONTENT`, `ADD_GLOBAL`, `MAX_AGE`

**Grep environment variables**: `CASE_SENSITIVE`, `WHOLE_WORD`, `FIXED_STRING`, `OUTPUT_MODE`, `HIGHLIGHT`, `EXHAUSTIVE`, `LINES_AFTER`, `LINES_BEFORE`, `MAX_PER_FILE`, `MAX_TOTAL`

**Flexible identifiers**: Most endpoints accept UUID, display name, or URL:
- UUID: `550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000`
- Display name: `Vercel AI SDK - Core`, `openai/gsm8k`
- URL: `https://docs.trynia.ai/`, `https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00752`

### repos.sh — Repository Management

```bash
./scripts/repos.sh index <owner/repo> [branch] [display_name]   # Index repo (ADD_GLOBAL=false to keep private)
./scripts/repos.sh list                                          # List indexed repos
./scripts/repos.sh status <owner/repo>                           # Get repo status
./scripts/repos.sh read <owner/repo> <path/to/file>              # Read file
./scripts/repos.sh grep <owner/repo> <pattern> [path_prefix]     # Grep code (REF= for branch)
./scripts/repos.sh tree <owner/repo> [branch]                    # Get file tree
./scripts/repos.sh delete <repo_id>                              # Delete repo
./scripts/repos.sh rename <repo_id> <new_name>                   # Rename display name
```

**Tree environment variables**: `INCLUDE_PATHS`, `EXCLUDE_PATHS`, `FILE_EXTENSIONS`, `EXCLUDE_EXTENSIONS`, `SHOW_FULL_PATHS`

### search.sh — Search

```bash
./scripts/search.sh query <query> <repos_csv> [docs_csv]         # Query specific repos/sources
./scripts/search.sh universal <query> [top_k]                    # Search ALL indexed sources
./scripts/search.sh web <query> [num_results]                    # Web search
./scripts/search.sh deep <query> [output_format]                 # Deep research (Pro)
```

**query** — targeted search with AI response and sources. Env: `LOCAL_FOLDERS`, `SLACK_WORKSPACES`, `CATEGORY`, `MAX_TOKENS`, `FAST_MODE`, `SKIP_LLM`, `REASONING_STRATEGY` (vector|tree|hybrid), `MODEL`, `BYPASS_CACHE`, `INCLUDE_FOLLOW_UPS`. Slack filters: `SLACK_CHANNELS`, `SLACK_USERS`, `SLACK_DATE_FROM`, `SLACK_DATE_TO`, `SLACK_INCLUDE_THREADS`. **This is the only search command that supports Slack.**
**universal** — hybrid vector + BM25 across all indexed public sources (repos + docs + HF datasets). **Does NOT include Slack.** Env: `INCLUDE_REPOS`, `INCLUDE_DOCS`, `INCLUDE_HF`, `ALPHA`, `COMPRESS`, `MAX_TOKENS`, `BOOST_LANGUAGES`, `EXPAND_SYMBOLS`
**web** — web search. Env: `CATEGORY` (github|company|research|news|tweet|pdf|blog), `DAYS_BACK`, `FIND_SIMILAR_TO`
**deep** — deep AI research (Pro). Env: `VERBOSE`

### oracle.sh — Oracle Autonomous Research (Pro)

```bash
./scripts/oracle.sh run <query> [repos_csv] [docs_csv]           # Run research (synchronous)
./scripts/oracle.sh job <query> [repos_csv] [docs_csv]           # Create async job (recommended)
./scripts/oracle.sh job-status <job_id>                          # Get job status/result
./scripts/oracle.sh job-cancel <job_id>                          # Cancel running job
./scripts/oracle.sh jobs-list [status] [limit]                   # List jobs
./scripts/oracle.sh sessions [limit]                             # List research sessions
./scripts/oracle.sh session-detail <session_id>                  # Get session details
./scripts/oracle.sh session-messages <session_id> [limit]        # Get session messages
./scripts/oracle.sh session-chat <session_id> <message>          # Follow-up chat (SSE stream)
./scripts/oracle.sh session-delete <session_id>                  # Delete session and messages
./scripts/oracle.sh 1m-usage                                     # Get daily 1M context usage
```

**Environment variables**: `OUTPUT_FORMAT`, `MODEL` (claude-opus-4-6|claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929|...)

### tracer.sh — Tracer GitHub Code Search (Pro)

Autonomous agent for searching GitHub repositories without indexing. Delegates to specialized sub-agents for faster, more thorough results. Supports fast mode (Haiku) and deep mode (Opus with 1M context).

```bash
./scripts/tracer.sh run <query> [repos_csv] [context] [mode]     # Create Tracer job
./scripts/tracer.sh status <job_id>                              # Get job status/result
./scripts/tracer.sh stream <job_id>                              # Stream real-time updates (SSE)
./scripts/tracer.sh list [status] [limit]                        # List jobs
./scripts/tracer.sh delete <job_id>                              # Delete job
```

**Environment variables**: `MODEL` (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001|claude-opus-4-6|claude-opus-4-6-1m), `TRACER_MODE` (fast|slow)

**Example workflow:**
```bash
# 1. Start a search
./scripts/tracer.sh run "How does streaming work in generateText?" vercel/ai "Focus on core implementation" slow
# Returns: {"job_id": "abc123", "session_id": "def456", "status": "queued"}

# 2. Stream progress
./scripts/tracer.sh stream abc123

# 3. Get final result
./scripts/tracer.sh status abc123
```

**Use Tracer when:**
- Exploring unfamiliar repositories
- Searching code you haven't indexed
- Finding implementation examples across repos

### slack.sh — Slack Integration

```bash
./scripts/slack.sh install                                        # Generate Slack OAuth URL
./scripts/slack.sh callback <code> [redirect_uri]                 # Exchange OAuth code for tokens
./scripts/slack.sh register-token <xoxb-token> [name]             # Register external bot token (BYOT)
./scripts/slack.sh list                                           # List Slack installations
./scripts/slack.sh get <installation_id>                          # Get installation details
./scripts/slack.sh delete <installation_id>                       # Disconnect workspace
./scripts/slack.sh channels <installation_id>                     # List available channels
./scripts/slack.sh configure-channels <inst_id> [mode]            # Configure channels to index
./scripts/slack.sh grep <installation_id> <pattern> [channel]     # BM25 search indexed messages
./scripts/slack.sh index <installation_id>                        # Trigger full re-index
./scripts/slack.sh messages <installation_id> [channel] [limit]   # Read recent messages (live)
./scripts/slack.sh status <installation_id>                       # Get indexing status
```

**configure-channels** env: `INCLUDE_CHANNELS` (csv of channel IDs), `EXCLUDE_CHANNELS` (csv)
**install** env: `REDIRECT_URI`, `SCOPES` (csv)

**Workflow:**
1. `slack.sh install` → get OAuth URL → user authorizes → `slack.sh callback <code>`
2. Or use BYOT: `slack.sh register-token xoxb-your-token "My Workspace"`
3. `slack.sh channels <id>` → see available channels
4. `slack.sh configure-channels <id> selected` with `INCLUDE_CHANNELS=C01,C02`
5. `slack.sh index <id>` → trigger indexing
6. `slack.sh grep <id> "search term"` → search indexed messages
7. Use in search: `SLACK_WORKSPACES=<id> ./scripts/search.sh query "question"`

### github.sh — Live GitHub Search (No Indexing Required)

```bash
./scripts/github.sh glob <owner/repo> <pattern> [ref]            # Find files matching glob
./scripts/github.sh read <owner/repo> <path> [ref] [start] [end] # Read file with line range
./scripts/github.sh search <owner/repo> <query> [per_page] [page]# Code search (GitHub API)
./scripts/github.sh tree <owner/repo> [ref] [path]               # Get file tree
```

Rate limited to 10 req/min by GitHub for code search. For indexed repo operations use `repos.sh`. For autonomous research use `tracer.sh`.

### papers.sh — Research Papers (arXiv)

```bash
./scripts/papers.sh index <arxiv_url_or_id>                     # Index paper
./scripts/papers.sh list                                         # List indexed papers
```

Supports: `2312.00752`, `https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00752`, PDF URLs, old format (`hep-th/9901001`), with version (`2312.00752v1`). Env: `ADD_GLOBAL`, `DISPLAY_NAME`

### datasets.sh — HuggingFace Datasets

```bash
./scripts/datasets.sh index <dataset> [config]                  # Index dataset
./scripts/datasets.sh list                                       # List indexed datasets
```

Supports: `squad`, `dair-ai/emotion`, `https://huggingface.co/datasets/squad`. Env: `ADD_GLOBAL`

### packages.sh — Package Source Code Search

```bash
./scripts/packages.sh grep <registry> <package> <pattern> [ver]  # Grep package code
./scripts/packages.sh hybrid <registry> <package> <query> [ver]  # Semantic search
./scripts/packages.sh read <reg> <pkg> <sha256> <start> <end>    # Read file lines
```

Registry: `npm` | `py_pi` | `crates_io` | `golang_proxy`
Grep env: `LANGUAGE`, `CONTEXT_BEFORE`, `CONTEXT_AFTER`, `OUTPUT_MODE`, `HEAD_LIMIT`, `FILE_SHA256`
Hybrid env: `PATTERN` (regex pre-filter), `LANGUAGE`, `FILE_SHA256`

### categories.sh — Organize Sources

```bash
./scripts/categories.sh list                                     # List categories
./scripts/categories.sh create <name> [color] [order]            # Create category
./scripts/categories.sh update <cat_id> [name] [color] [order]   # Update category
./scripts/categories.sh delete <cat_id>                          # Delete category
./scripts/categories.sh assign <source_id> <cat_id|null>         # Assign/remove category
```

### contexts.sh — Cross-Agent Context Sharing

```bash
./scripts/contexts.sh save <title> <summary> <content> <agent>   # Save context
./scripts/contexts.sh list [limit] [offset]                      # List contexts
./scripts/contexts.sh search <query> [limit]                     # Text search
./scripts/contexts.sh semantic-search <query> [limit]            # Vector search
./scripts/contexts.sh get <context_id>                           # Get by ID
./scripts/contexts.sh update <id> [title] [summary] [content]    # Update context
./scripts/contexts.sh delete <context_id>                        # Delete context
```

Save env: `TAGS` (csv), `MEMORY_TYPE` (scratchpad|episodic|fact|procedural), `TTL_SECONDS`, `WORKSPACE`
List env: `TAGS`, `AGENT_SOURCE`, `MEMORY_TYPE`

### deps.sh — Dependency Analysis

```bash
./scripts/deps.sh analyze <manifest_file>                        # Analyze dependencies
./scripts/deps.sh subscribe <manifest_file> [max_new]            # Subscribe to dep docs
./scripts/deps.sh upload <manifest_file> [max_new]               # Upload manifest (multipart)
```

Supports: package.json, requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, Cargo.toml, go.mod, Gemfile. Env: `INCLUDE_DEV`

### folders.sh — Local Folders (Private Storage)

```bash
./scripts/folders.sh create /path/to/folder [display_name]       # Create from local dir
./scripts/folders.sh list [limit] [offset]                       # List folders (STATUS=)
./scripts/folders.sh get <folder_id>                             # Get details
./scripts/folders.sh delete <folder_id>                          # Delete folder
./scripts/folders.sh rename <folder_id> <new_name>               # Rename folder
./scripts/folders.sh tree <folder_id>                            # Get file tree
./scripts/folders.sh ls <folder_id> [path]                       # List directory
./scripts/folders.sh read <folder_id> <path> [start] [end]       # Read file (MAX_LENGTH=)
./scripts/folders.sh grep <folder_id> <pattern> [path_prefix]    # Grep files
./scripts/folders.sh classify <folder_id> [categories_csv]       # AI classification
./scripts/folders.sh classification <folder_id>                  # Get classification
./scripts/folders.sh sync <folder_id> /path/to/folder            # Re-sync from local
./scripts/folders.sh from-db <name> <conn_str> <query>           # Import from database
./scripts/folders.sh preview-db <conn_str> <query>               # Preview DB content
```

### advisor.sh — Code Advisor

```bash
./scripts/advisor.sh "query" file1.py [file2.ts ...]             # Get code advice
```

Analyzes your code against indexed docs. Env: `REPOS` (csv), `DOCS` (csv), `OUTPUT_FORMAT` (explanation|checklist|diff|structured)

### usage.sh — API Usage

```bash
./scripts/usage.sh                                               # Get usage summary
```

## API Reference

- **Base URL**: `https://apigcp.trynia.ai/v2`
- **Auth**: Bearer token in Authorization header
- **Flexible identifiers**: Most endpoints accept UUID, display name, or URL

### Source Types

| Type | Index Command | Identifier Examples |
|------|---------------|---------------------|
| Repository | `repos.sh index` | `owner/repo`, `microsoft/vscode` |
| Documentation | `sources.sh index` | `https://docs.example.com` |
| Research Paper | `papers.sh index` | `2312.00752`, arXiv URL |
| HuggingFace Dataset | `datasets.sh index` | `squad`, `owner/dataset` |
| Local Folder | `folders.sh create` | UUID, display name (private, user-scoped) |
| Slack | `slack.sh register-token` / OAuth | installation ID |

### Search Modes

For `search.sh query`:
- `repositories` — Search GitHub repositories only (auto-detected when only repos passed)
- `sources` — Search data sources only (auto-detected when only docs passed)
- `unified` — Search both (default when both passed)

Pass sources via:
- `repositories` arg: comma-separated `"owner/repo,owner2/repo2"`
- `data_sources` arg: comma-separated `"display-name,uuid,https://url"`
- `LOCAL_FOLDERS` env: comma-separated `"folder-uuid,My Notes"`
- `SLACK_WORKSPACES` env: comma-separated installation IDs