Quick Start

It only takes a few minutes to run the Birk ecosystem in your local environment and send the first request to a model. Use the CLI or the API, whichever fits your workflow.

00 Requirements 01 CLI 02 Auth 03 API Key 04 First Agent 05 First Request 06 Response

After completing this guide

Install the Birk CLI on your system.

Authorize your workspace.

Create your first API key.

Start an autonomous agent from the CLI.

Send your first request through the REST API.

Read the expected response structure.

00Before You Start

Before continuing, make sure the following requirements are in place.

Node.js>= 18.0

Required for CLI installation.

Python>= 3.9

Required if you use the Python SDK.

Birk API KeyActive

Create it from briqmind.com.

Network Connection-

Required for initial setup. Optional after on-premise deployment.

Setting up an on-premise deployment?
This guide covers cloud API access. For deployment on your own infrastructure, go to the On-Premise Deployment guide.

01Install the CLI

The fastest way to interact with Birk is to install the official CLI. It helps you manage local models and configure workspace settings.

$ npm install -g @briqmind/cli
  added 142 packages in 4.2s

$ briq --version
  briq-cli/2.4.1 linux-x64 node-v20.11.0

02Authenticate

$ briq login
  > Opening your browser... Waiting for authentication.
  > Success! Workspace: 'my-enterprise-workspace'
  > Session token saved to ~/.briq/credentials.

03Create an API Key

You need an API key for programmatic model access. The same key can be used by the CLI and direct REST API requests.

$ briq apikey create --name "my-first-key"
  > API key created.
  > Key: briq_sk_a1b2c3d4...
  > Store this key securely - it will not be shown again.

$ export BRIQ_API_KEY=briq_sk_a1b2c3d4...

Avoid hardcoding the key directly in source code. It creates a security risk and increases the chance of leaking secrets into version control.

04Start Your First Agent

CLI

Go to any project directory and start the Birk-Agent-Light model so it can operate on your codebase.

$ cd /your/project
$ briq agent start --model birk-agent-light
  > Birk Agent started (local isolated network).
  > Model: birk-agent-light-v1 | Context: 128k tokens | Tools: filesystem, shell
  > Hello, how can I help you today?

You: "Analyze all user login errors in this project and produce a report."
  > [1/3] Scanning log files... 2,847 records found.
  > [2/3] Classifying error patterns...
  > [3/3] Creating report -> ./briq-report-20260429.md

05Your First API Request

REST API

You can access models directly through the API instead of the CLI. Our REST endpoint is OpenAI-compatible, so you can integrate it with your existing tools easily.

curl https://api.briqmind.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BRIQ_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "birk-agent-light-v1",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "user",
        "content": "Scan this project for security vulnerabilities and produce a report."
      }
    ],
    "temperature": 0.2
  }'

SDK installation:

pip install briqmind|npm install @briqmind/sdk

06Expected Response

A successful API request returns a JSON response in the following format.

JSON Response

{
  "id": "chatcmpl-a1b2c3d4e5f6",
  "object": "chat.completion",
  "model": "birk-agent-light-v1",
  "choices": [
    {
      "index": 0,
      "message": {
        "role": "assistant",
        "content": "Security scan completed. 3 critical vulnerabilities were found..."
      },
      "finish_reason": "stop"
    }
  ],
  "usage": {
    "prompt_tokens": 28,
    "completion_tokens": 142,
    "total_tokens": 170
  }
}

choices[0].message.content

The response text generated by the model.

usage.total_tokens

The total number of tokens consumed by this request.

finish_reason

"stop" means normal completion; "length" means the token limit was reached.

Troubleshooting

401 Unauthorized▼

Cause: The API key is invalid or expired.

Fix: Check active keys with briq apikey list. Rotate the key with briq apikey rotate if needed.

403 Forbidden - workspace not found▼

Cause: The session token belongs to the wrong workspace.

Fix: Run briq logout && briq login, then select the correct workspace.

command not found: briq▼

Cause: The npm global bin directory is not on PATH.

Fix: Add the npm global bin directory to PATH: export PATH="$(npm prefix -g)/bin:$PATH"

429 Rate Limited▼

Cause: Too many requests were sent in a short period.

Fix: On-premise deployments do not have this limit. For the cloud API, use exponential backoff.

Still having trouble? Errors and Troubleshooting has more details.

Next Steps

Core Concepts

Learn pipeline orchestration and agent state management.

Read

API Reference

Detailed documentation for all endpoints, parameters, and response formats.

Read

How It Works

Review the technology and security protocols behind our private-network architecture.

Inspect