Quickstart
Ahoy there! Let’s get you up and running with Captain. We’ve made this quick and easy.
Prerequisites
Get Your API Credentials
You’ll need:
- API Key from Captain API Studio (format:
cap_dev_...,cap_prod_...) - Organization ID (UUID format, also available in the Studio)
Store your API key securely, such as in an environment variable:
[1/3] Create a Collection
In order for Captain to be able to search files, we need to first create a Collection for our files to be indexed into.
This is as easy as a single API call: See the Create Collection - API Reference
After the collection is created, we should get a response like this:
[2/3] Index Files into Collections
Next, we need to index our files into the collection.
Captain currently supports indexing into collections from AWS S3 and Google Cloud Storage (GCS) buckets.
Option A: Index AWS S3 Bucket
See the Index S3 Bucket - API Reference
Need AWS credentials? See the Connect Cloud Storage Guide for step-by-step instructions.
Option B: Index Google Cloud Storage Bucket
See the Index GCS Bucket - API Reference
Need GCS credentials? See the Connect Cloud Storage Guide for step-by-step instructions.
Monitor Indexing Progress
See the Get Job Status - API Reference
[3/3] Querying Collections
Once your files are indexed, you can query the collection. See the Query Collection - API Reference
Querying with LLM Inference
Query your collection with AI-generated answers:
Querying without LLM Inference
Fetch relevant context without AI-generated answers:
Querying with Streaming
Get real-time responses as they’re generated:
Other Info
Environment Scoping
API keys are scoped to environments:
- Development (
cap_dev_*) - For testing and development - Staging (
cap_stage_*) - For pre-production testing - Production (
cap_prod_*) - For production use
Collections created with a development key can only be accessed with development keys from the same organization.
Supported File Types
Captain supports 30+ file types including:
Documents: PDF, DOCX, TXT, MD, RTF, ODT Spreadsheets: XLSX, XLS, CSV Presentations: PPTX, PPT Images: JPG, PNG (with OCR) Code: PY, JS, TS, HTML, CSS, PHP, JAVA Data: JSON, XML
Contact support@runcaptain.com to request file types.
Getting Help
Need assistance? We’re here to help!
- Email: support@runcaptain.com
- Documentation: docs.runcaptain.com