---
title: "Ask questions about a project"
url: "https://docs.alisx.com/how-to/ideate/ask-questions-about-a-project/"
---
# Ask questions about a project

Get an answer drawn from what a project holds, with citations, instead of reading every contribution yourself. In the console you ask Alis; from the CLI you or a coding agent read the context directly.

## Prerequisites

- Access to the project. Viewer access is enough to ask; adding what you learn back needs Editor.

## Ask in the console

1. Open the project.
2. Click the box at the foot of any project screen, **What should Alis work on in this project?** To continue an earlier conversation instead, open it under **Chats** in the rail.
3. Type your question and press ++enter++. Use **Add files and more** to attach a file if the question is about it.

A new chat with Alis opens inside the project. Alis answers from what the project holds, and anything on the project that an answer refers to shows as a tile you can open. The chat is listed under **Chats** in the project's rail so you can continue it later; **New chat** there starts another.

Chats with the earlier Ideate agent are listed there too, kept to read. Replying to one carries it into a new chat with Alis.

## Ask outside a project

On **Projects**, **Interviews** and **Artifacts**, the box at the foot, **What should Alis work on?**, starts a chat with Alis that is not tied to one project; so does **New chat** under **Chats** in the rail. Use it to think out loud. To ask about one project, ask from inside it so the chat belongs to it.

## Read the context from the CLI

The CLI does not answer questions. It gives you, or a coding agent, the material to answer them:

1. Map the project:

    ```bash title="Terminal"
    alis ideate context <project>
    ```

2. Open only the parts that matter, by the ids the map prints:

    ```bash title="Terminal"
    alis ideate artifacts read <artifact> --project <project>
    alis ideate contribution <contribution> --project <project>
    ```

3. Search a long file rather than reading it whole:

    ```bash title="Terminal"
    alis ideate contribution <contribution> --project <project> --file 2 --lines 300-420
    ```

See [Read project context from the CLI](https://docs.alisx.com/how-to/ideate/read-project-context-from-the-cli.md) for the full loop.

## Find a project by what it is about

When you do not know which project holds the answer:

```bash title="Terminal"
alis ideate find "reducing drop-off during customer onboarding"
```

Describe the topic in a sentence; the search matches on meaning. `--dimension pain-points` (or `stakeholders`, `technology`, `current-process`, `intent`) narrows the facet it matches against. It searches your active account only, and a project created minutes ago may not be findable yet.

`alis ask` is different: it answers questions about your own platform activity (coding sessions, specialist conversations and skills), not about Ideate projects.

## Related

- [Add notes and contributions](https://docs.alisx.com/how-to/ideate/add-notes-and-contributions.md)
- Reference: [`alis ideate find`](https://docs.alisx.com/reference/projects/cli.md#alis-ideate-find)