QuickstartInstall
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FAQ & troubleshooting

Answers to common questions and problems.

#Questions

#Does anything leave my computer?

No. Your documents are read, stored and searched on your machine. The only download is a small search model, once. If you turn on the optional AI review, only the statements being reviewed are sent to the provider you chose.

#Do I need an API key or account?

No.

#How is this different from RAG?

RAG hands your agent chunks of text that look similar to the question. DocuSense lets your agent navigate your documents like a person, quote exact passages with citations you can check, and answer questions RAG can't: what changed between versions, and where documents contradict each other.

#Which files are supported?

PDF, Word (.docx), HTML, Markdown and plain text. Scanned PDFs need OCR first. Spreadsheets and slides aren't supported yet.

#When is DocuSense not worth it?

If your documents are a few short files that fit comfortably in your agent's context, just paste them. docusense savings shows whether you're actually saving.

#Can I delete a document?

DocuSense keeps history on purpose, so there's no single-document delete. To start fresh, run docusense db reset --yes, or point DOCUSENSE_HOME at a new folder.

#Where is my data?

In ~/.docusense. Run docusense info to see the exact location.

#Troubleshooting

#My agent doesn't see DocuSense

  1. Restart the app after running docusense setup.
  2. In Claude Code, type /mcp and check docusense is listed.
  3. Run docusense setup again for your app. It points the app at the exact location of DocuSense.
  4. Still nothing? Run docusense serve-mcp in a terminal. It should sit quietly waiting; if it prints an error, that's the problem. Press Ctrl+C to stop it.

#"docusense: command not found"

Run uv tool update-shell, then open a new terminal.

#"claude CLI not found"

docusense setup connects to Claude Code by default. If you use a different app, run docusense setup claude-desktop, docusense setup cursor or docusense setup print.

#"no search index yet"

You haven't added any documents yet. Run docusense add <file or folder>. If you have, run docusense index.

#Adding documents is slow the first time

The first time, DocuSense downloads its search model (~130 MB). After that, adding documents is quick.

#"… is outside the allowed folders"

Your agent tried to add a file from a folder it isn't allowed to read. Add that folder to allowed folders, or add the file yourself with docusense add.

#"unknown document"

The message lists the documents you have. Run docusense list to check names.

#A PDF has no text or sections

It's probably a scanned PDF. Run it through OCR, then add it again.