# Ask

You can ask questions within a collection. `ask()` method returns a plain-text answer to your question, as well as a list of most relevance references used to derive the answer.

By default, ask will get answers from all relevant documents in the collection. If you want to ask a single document, you could limit the document when ask.

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="HTTP" %}

```
POST /docs/ask HTTP/1.1
Api-Key: my_api_key
Content-Type: application/json
Host: my_account_id.us-west-2.aws.chatbees.ai

{
  "namespace_name": "string",
  "collection_name": "string",
  "question": "string",
  // Optional top_k, default is 5.
  "top_k": int,
  // Optional doc_name. if specified, question will be answered with the
  // context only from the doc.
  "doc_name": "string" or null,
  // The chat history
  history_messages: [(question1, answer1), ...]
}

Response:
{
  "answer": "string",
  "refs": [
    {"doc_name": "string", "page_num": int, "sample_text": "string"},
    ...
  ]
}

```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Python" %}

```
import chatbees as cb

# Configure API key
cb.init(api_key="my_api_key", account_id="my_account_id")

# get answer from all docs in the collection
answer, refs = cb.collection('llm_research').ask('what is a transformer?')

# get answer from a specific doc in the collection
answer, refs = cb.collection('llm_research').ask(question='what is a transformer?', doc_name='file.pdf')
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.chatbees.ai/chatbees/api-references/document-operations/ask.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.