Ask the Source

Ask the Source is an Arc XP product that lets readers ask natural-language questions about your newsroom's content. It queries your Arc XP news corpus and returns AI-generated answers with cited articles, streamed in real time.

This repository hosts documentation and a runnable demo app for two npm packages that integrate Ask the Source into your application:

Package	What it is
@arcxp/ask-the-source-sdk	TypeScript SDK — direct API access (queries, SSE streaming, feedback, settings). Use this if you are building a custom UI or working outside of React.
@arcxp/ask-the-source-components	React component library built on the SDK — drop-in <AskChat/> plus composable views and hooks. Use this if you want a working UI with minimal setup.

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Which package do I need?

• Building a React app and want a ready-made UI? Install @arcxp/ask-the-source-components. It bundles the SDK and gives you a full chat experience in a few lines of JSX. Get started with components.
• Building a custom UI, using a non-React framework, or need raw API access? Install @arcxp/ask-the-source-sdk. It handles auth, request/response typing, and SSE streaming. Get started with the SDK.

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Installing the packages

The packages are published to the public npm registry under the @arcxp scope — no token or .npmrc setup needed:

npm install @arcxp/ask-the-source-components   # React UI (includes the SDK)
# or
npm install @arcxp/ask-the-source-sdk          # SDK only

Migrating from @arcxp/ask-the-news-*? The @arcxp/ask-the-news-sdk and @arcxp/ask-the-news-components packages on GitHub Packages are deprecated. Install the @arcxp/ask-the-source-* packages above instead, and remove any @arcxp:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com line from your .npmrc — otherwise npm keeps resolving @arcxp packages from GitHub Packages. The SDK factory is now createAskTheSourceClient (formerly createAskTheNewsClient).

Both packages require Node >= 22.

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Documentation

• SDK docs — API reference, query methods, SSE streaming, error handling
• SDK changelog
• Components docs — <AskProvider>, <AskChat/>, composable views, hooks, theming
• Components changelog

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Running the demo app

apps/demo is a minimal demo app showing how the packages are wired together: a single page rendering <AskProvider> + <AskChat/>. It is dev-only and runs off the Vite dev server.

Prerequisites: Node >= 22.

npm install       # installs the demo and the published @arcxp packages
npm run dev       # starts the demo on http://localhost:3000

Point the demo at your Ask the Source deployment with these environment variables (e.g. via apps/demo/.env.local or real environment variables):

Variable	Description	Example
VITE_ARC_ASK_BASE_URL	API base URL	https://myorg-config-sandbox.api.arc-cdn.net/ask
VITE_ARC_ASK_WEBSITE	Site identifier	my-site
VITE_ARC_ASK_API_KEY	Site-scoped API key (sent as the X-Api-Key header)	(your site's API key)

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License

ISC.