Developer Access: Overview

• Once you have set up a Quill app, Quill mirrors the selected data from your source relational database
  into a RavenDB database created for the app.

• Quill makes this mirrored data available in two ways:

  • Conversational access through a channel:
    Users send questions to the agent assigned to the channel.
    Quill processes the messages through the agent, its configured LLM, and the conversation system.
    The agent can query the mirrored data when needed.

  • Direct data access with RavenDB.Client:
    Your application uses RavenDB.Client to connect directly to the RavenDB database that contains the app's mirrored data and execute queries defined by your code, without going through a Quill agent, an LLM, or the conversation system.

• The two methods are independent. An application can use both.

• In this article:

  • Choose an access method
  • Use a channel for conversations with an agent
  • Use RavenDB.Client to query mirrored data directly

Choose an access method

Choose an access method based on whether users need conversational answers or your application needs direct control over its data queries:

Access method	Use when	How it works	Uses an agent and LLM	Detailed documentation
Channel	Users should ask questions in natural language and receive agent replies.	Messages are routed to the assigned agent, which can query the mirrored data when needed.	Yes	Channels overview
RavenDB.Client	Application code needs to query or process the mirrored data directly.	The application connects directly to and queries the app's mirrored RavenDB database.	No	Access the Mirrored Database with RavenDB.Client

Use a channel for conversations with an agent

A channel is the communication path between users and the Quill agent assigned to it.
Users send messages through the channel, and the agent's replies return through the same channel.

When the agent handles a message, it can use the query tools defined in its configuration to query the app's mirrored data when needed. The request goes through the assigned agent, the configured LLM, and Quill's conversation system.

Unlike direct access with RavenDB.Client, neither the user nor your application defines the database query.
The agent decides whether to query the data and which of its configured query tools to use.

To integrate Quill chat into your own application or website, use a web widget channel.
Your page embeds the widget, and your backend generates the embed links that open it.
For implementation details, see Embed the Chat Widget.

For a comparison of all available channel types and their setup guides, see the Channels overview.

Use RavenDB.Client to query mirrored data directly

Use RavenDB.Client when your application code needs to query or process the app's mirrored documents directly, rather than receive an answer composed by a Quill agent. Your code defines the queries and handles the results.

Connect to the RavenDB server in the Quill deployment at https://db.<domain>,
and set DocumentStore.Database to the RavenDB database name assigned to the app.
For apps created through the current setup flow, this database name matches the app slug.

Authenticate with a client certificate generated on the dashboard's Certificates page.
For a User certificate, its per-app permissions determine which app databases the application can access and whether it has Read/Write or Admin access. The current dashboard does not offer a Read-only grant.

Requests made with RavenDB.Client reach RavenDB directly.
They do not pass through a Quill channel, agent, LLM, conversation system, or the Quill API.

This connection reaches the app's mirrored RavenDB database, not the source relational database.
Changes made directly to the mirrored database are never written back to the source database.

For the complete connection procedure and query examples, see Access the Mirrored Database with RavenDB.Client.