Ballast Documentation

Everything you need to connect your data, build with the API, and integrate with Claude.

Quickstart

5 min

Connect your first data source and run a search in under 5 minutes.

API Reference

Reference

REST API endpoints for search, chat, sources, and dashboards.

MCP for Claude

10 min

Give Claude Desktop direct access to your indexed data.

Integrations

Reference

Connect databases, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and 50+ other sources.

What is Ballast?

Ballast is a context retrieval platform that connects your databases, documents, and tools into a unified searchable index. Ask questions in plain English and get instant answers with AI-generated dashboards—no SQL required.

Key Features

  • Pre-built Integrations: Connect PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Google Drive, Slack, Salesforce, GitHub, and more with OAuth or secure credentials.
  • Semantic Search: Find information across all your sources using natural language queries.
  • AI Dashboards: Ask a question, get a chart. Share dashboards with your team or embed them in your app.
  • MCP for Claude: Give Claude Desktop native access to search your indexed data.
  • Personal Sources: Keep sensitive data like email private with user-scoped encryption.
  • Self-Hosting: Deploy on your own infrastructure with Docker.

How It Works

  1. Connect: Add data sources through OAuth or secure credentials. Ballast handles sync, chunking, and embedding automatically.
  2. Search: Query your data using natural language through the UI, API, or Claude with MCP.
  3. Analyze: Ask questions that generate charts and dashboards. Share them with your team or embed in your product.

Getting Help

If you run into issues or have questions: