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Quickstart

Get up and running with ZenSearch in minutes. This guide walks you through connecting your first data source and running your first AI-powered search.

Prerequisites​

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • A ZenSearch account (sign up at app.zensearch.ai)
  • Access to at least one data source you want to connect

Step 1: Sign In​

  1. Navigate to app.zensearch.ai
  2. Sign in with your email or SSO provider
  3. You'll land on the Ask page - your main interface for searching and chatting

Step 2: Connect Your First Data Source​

  1. Click Knowledge in the left sidebar

  2. Click Add Data Source button

  3. Select your connector type from the available options:

    Popular choices for getting started:

    • Google Drive - Connect with OAuth in seconds
    • Notion - Great for team wikis and documentation
    • GitHub - Index your code repositories
    • S3 - Connect any S3-compatible storage

  4. Follow the connector-specific setup:

    • For OAuth connectors (Google Drive, Notion, Slack): Click authorize and grant permissions
    • For API key connectors (GitHub, Confluence): Enter your API credentials
    • For Storage connectors (S3, Azure Blob): Configure endpoint and credentials

  5. Configure connector options:

    • Name: Give your data source a descriptive name
    • Collection: Select or create a collection to organize your documents
    • Filters: Optionally filter which content to sync (paths, file types, etc.)

  6. Click Test Connection to verify your settings

  7. Click Create to save and start the initial sync

Step 3: Wait for Initial Sync​

After creating your connector:

  1. Go to Knowledge → Activity tab
  2. Watch the sync progress as ZenSearch:
    • Collects documents from your source
    • Parses and extracts content
    • Generates embeddings for semantic search
    • Indexes everything in the vector database
tip

The initial sync time depends on the amount of content. A small repository might take a few minutes, while larger datasets can take longer.

Once your documents are indexed:

  1. Go to the Ask page

  2. Type a natural language question in the search box, for example:

    • "What is our vacation policy?"
    • "How do I set up the development environment?"
    • "Show me the latest sales reports"

  3. Press Enter or click the send button

  4. ZenSearch will:

    • Search across your connected sources
    • Find relevant documents
    • Generate an AI-powered answer with citations

Step 5: Explore the Results​

Your search results include:

  • AI-Generated Answer: A synthesized response to your question
  • Source Citations: Click any citation to view the original document
  • Sources Panel: See all documents used to generate the answer
  • Follow-up Questions: Continue the conversation for more details

What's Next?​

Now that you've completed your first search, explore more features:

Troubleshooting​

Sync is stuck or failing​

  1. Check the Activity tab for error messages
  2. Verify your credentials are correct
  3. Ensure the source has accessible content
  4. Try triggering a manual re-sync

No results found​

  1. Wait for the initial sync to complete
  2. Check that your search terms match your content
  3. Try broader or different search terms
  4. Verify the correct collection is selected

Connection errors​

  1. Re-authenticate if using OAuth
  2. Check API key permissions
  3. Verify network access to the data source

Need more help? Check the detailed documentation for your specific connector or contact support.