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Overview

An intent is the core unit of work in a21e. You describe what you need in plain language, and a21e handles prompt engineering, model selection, and execution.

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Submitting an intent

curl -X POST https://api.a21e.com/v1/rpc \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "intent.submit",
    "params": {
      "input": "Write a database migration to add soft-delete to the users table",
      "auto_execute": true,
      "model_tier": "standard"
    }
  }'

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Parameters

ParameterTypeDefaultDescription
inputstringrequiredNatural-language description of what you want
auto_executebooleantrueExecute immediately after prompt compilation
model_tierstring"auto"Model quality tier: auto, economy, standard, premium
fail_openbooleantrueAllow flexible matching when exact intent match isn’t found
explicit_instructionsstring—Additional context or constraints for this specific request

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Response

{
  "intent_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "status": "completed",
  "auto_executed": true,
  "execution_preview": "Here's a PostgreSQL migration...",
  "context_used": [
    { "source": "memory", "description": "3 relevant memory items retrieved", "items": 3 },
    { "source": "repository", "description": "owner/repo - 5 files inspected", "items": 5 }
  ]
}

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Model tier selection

When model_tier is "auto" (the default), a21e analyzes your intent’s complexity and selects the appropriate tier:
  • Simple lookups, formatting, boilerplate → economy tier
  • Code generation, writing, analysis → standard tier
  • Architecture decisions, security audits, multi-step reasoning → premium tier
You can override this by specifying a tier explicitly.

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Intent follow-ups

After receiving a response, you can continue the conversation by submitting a follow-up intent with the same intent_id: 
{
  "method": "intent.submit",
  "params": {
    "input": "Now add an index on the deleted_at column",
    "intent_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "auto_execute": true
  }
}
Follow-ups carry forward the conversation context and any relevant memory.