# The Riff agent

The Riff agent is the AI assistant that helps you build. It lives in the chat panel of the App builder, in the Chat tab of the Agent builder, and in Ask Riff in the Team Workspace.

{% hint style="info" %}
**The Riff agent is not the same as the agents you build.** The Riff agent is your building assistant — it is always there, helping you configure things. The agents you build in the Agent builder are autonomous workers that run your business processes on a trigger. The words look similar; the things are different.
{% endhint %}

## Where the Riff agent appears

| Surface                                   | What it does there                                                                                     |
| ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **App builder** — chat panel (right side) | Builds your app — writes code, installs packages, connects integrations — in response to your messages |
| **Agent builder** — Chat tab              | Configures your agent — writes instructions, adds skills and knowledge, connects tools                 |
| **Ask Riff** — Team Workspace             | Answers questions across your whole workspace using your team's integrations and Context library       |

The chat panel looks and behaves consistently across all three surfaces. The same controls are available everywhere.

## What the Riff agent can see

When you are working in the App builder or Agent builder, the Riff agent has access to:

* The current state of your project (code, instructions, skills, knowledge)
* Your connected integrations
* Your Context library
* The task board
* Skills you have loaded via `/` in the chat input

## Reference

* [Chat panel](/reference/riff-agent/chat-panel.md) — the controls, toggles, and input options in the chat interface
* [Build / Plan toggle](/reference/riff-agent/build-plan-toggle.md) — switch between executing changes and planning them first
* [Skills](/reference/riff-agent/skills.md) — reusable prompts you load into the Riff agent via `/`
* [Tools](/reference/riff-agent/tools.md) — the actions the Riff agent can take on your behalf


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.riff.ai/reference/riff-agent.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.