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Welcome to Khoj! Get up and running with your AI second brain in just a few minutes. This guide will take you from signup to having your first meaningful conversation with Khoj.

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What is Khoj?

Khoj is your personal AI assistant that can:
  • Chat with you about anything using state-of-the-art LLMs (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, or local models)
  • Search and understand your personal documents (PDFs, markdown, org-mode, Word, Notion)
  • Access information from the internet when needed
  • Generate images, execute code, and create diagrams
  • Work across all your devices - web, desktop, Obsidian, Emacs, and WhatsApp
Khoj is open-source and can be self-hosted for complete privacy, or used via our cloud service at app.khoj.dev

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Get Started with Khoj Cloud

The fastest way to start using Khoj is through our cloud service. No installation required!
1

Create Your Account

Go to app.khoj.dev and sign up using:
  • Google Single Sign-On (recommended for quickest setup)
  • Email and Password
Your account is created instantly and you can start chatting right away.
With Google SSO, Khoj only receives your name, email, and profile photo - no access to other Google services.
2

Start Your First Chat

Once logged in, you’ll see the chat interface. Try asking Khoj:
Explain quantum computing in simple terms
Khoj will respond using its general knowledge. To make it truly powerful, let’s add your personal data.
3

Add Your Documents

Make Khoj your second brain by uploading your personal documents:Quick Upload (Drag & Drop)Simply drag and drop files directly into the chat window. Khoj supports:
  • PDFs
  • Markdown (.md)
  • Org-mode (.org)
  • Word documents (.docx)
  • Plain text (.txt)
Drag and drop upload demoBulk Upload
  1. Click on your profile icon in the top-right
  2. Navigate to Settings → Data Sources
  3. Click Add Documents to upload multiple files at once
Sync Your NotesFor continuous syncing, install the Desktop app or plugins for:
  • Obsidian - Perfect for Obsidian users
  • Emacs - Native Emacs integration
4

Chat with Your Knowledge

Once your documents are uploaded (indexing takes a few seconds), ask questions about them:
What are the main points from my meeting notes last week?

/notes Summarize my research on machine learning
Khoj will retrieve relevant information from your documents and provide contextual answers with citations.Chat demo
5

Explore Advanced Features

Now that you’re set up, explore Khoj’s powerful features:

Create Custom Agents

Build agents with custom personalities and knowledge bases

Generate Images

Use /image to create images from text descriptions

Set Up Automations

Schedule research tasks and get personalized newsletters

Execute Code

Run Python code snippets with /code

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Essential Slash Commands

Slash commands give you fine-grained control over how Khoj responds:
CommandDescriptionExample
/notesSearch only your personal documents/notes What did I write about project X?
/generalUse only Khoj’s general knowledge/general Explain relativity
/onlineSearch the internet for current info/online Latest AI news
/researchDeep dive with comprehensive research/research Climate change solutions
/imageGenerate images/image A sunset over mountains
/codeExecute Python code/code Calculate fibonacci(10)
/diagramCreate Excalidraw diagrams/diagram Design a database schema
/helpShow all available commands/help
Use keyboard shortcuts to speed up your workflow. Press ? in the web app to see all shortcuts.

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Using Conversation Filters

Narrow down which documents Khoj searches by using the file filter panel:
  1. Look for the file filter icon in the left sidebar
  2. Select specific documents or folders
  3. Khoj will only search within those filtered files for that conversation
File filter panel

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Connect More Data Sources

Expand Khoj’s knowledge by connecting external services:

Notion Integration

Sync your Notion workspace automatically

GitHub Integration

Index your GitHub repositories and issues

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Choose Your Chat Model

Khoj Cloud comes with multiple AI models pre-configured:
  • GPT-4o - OpenAI’s most capable model (default)
  • Claude 3.5 Sonnet - Anthropic’s advanced reasoning model
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash - Google’s fast, efficient model
To change your model:
  1. Go to Settings → Chat Model
  2. Select your preferred model from the dropdown
  3. Save and start chatting!
Free tier users have rate limits. Upgrade to a subscription for unlimited usage and access to all models.

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Next Steps

Now that you’re up and running, explore these resources:

Privacy & Security

Learn how your data is protected

Self-Hosting

Run Khoj on your own hardware for complete privacy

All Features

Discover everything Khoj can do

Desktop Apps

Install native desktop applications

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Getting Help

Need assistance? We’re here to help:
Use /help in any chat to get quick assistance and see all available commands.

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