Expert AI

A professional research terminal for knowledge workers. Expert AI brings evidence-based, citation-grade AI research to your command line — purpose-built for the AEC disciplines (Architecture, Engineering & Construction) and extensible across the sciences, planning, policy, and interdisciplinary work.

Sign in once with your ssv.asia membership and start researching. No API keys to manage, no provider setup — models, limits, and the curated knowledge ecosystem are handled for you, server-side.

Membership required. Expert AI is for ssv.asia members. Not a member yet? Join free at https://ssv.asia/ — the Community tier is free forever.

Why Expert AI

Most AI tools are general-purpose chatbots. Expert AI is tuned for depth researchers and practitioners who need rigor, not vibes:

• Evidence-based methodology — answers oriented around sources, citations, and defensible reasoning rather than confident guesses.
• Domain depth in AEC — informed by a curated body of architecture, engineering, and construction research, with first-class support for precedent analysis, building systems, structural detailing, environmental design, and design theory.
• Multidisciplinary reach — science, urban planning, environmental policy, social science, and cross-disciplinary synthesis.
• Terminal-native — fast, scriptable, and at home in a professional's workflow. No tab switching, no browser.

Who it's for

Architects, engineers, urban planners, academic researchers, policy analysts, and independent scholars — anyone who does serious knowledge work and wants an AI research assistant that respects sources and methodology.

Research domains

| Domain | Coverage | |--------|----------| | Architecture & Design | Precedent analysis, design theory, historical context, spatial reasoning | | Engineering & Building | Structural design, building systems, materials, construction detailing | | Planning & Environment | Urban systems, site analysis, sustainability, environmental design | | Science & Research | Methodology, literature synthesis, data interpretation | | Social Science & Policy | Evidence-based policy, organizational and cultural analysis | | Interdisciplinary | Cross-domain synthesis, innovation systems, theory |

The ssv.asia research ecosystem

Your membership connects the terminal to the wider ssv.asia platform:

• ai.ssv.asia — doctoral-grade research models
• Universal Search — curated AEC and multidisciplinary knowledge retrieval
• mathbook — applied calculations and formula design
• map.ssv.asia — geospatial and contextual exploration
• A dedicated research think tank community

Install

Requires Node.js ≥ 20.19. Works on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

npm install -g expert-ai

That single command installs everything — the Expert AI research engine and all its dependencies. Nothing else to configure.

Quick start

x

On first run, enter your ssv.asia email and confirm in the browser (a one-time sign-in on ssv.asia). Your session is remembered, so you'll typically sign in about once a day.

Expert AI
Community  10/10 free messages left
Press u to buy a 6-hour pass (UPI — scan & go).

1  Research
2  Eureka
3  Config
u  Buy a pass
l  Log out
q  Quit

With an active pass the header shows your live session instead:

Expert AI
Researcher  ⏳ 5h 12m left
tokens — free 0/1,000,000 · pro 0/1,000,000

Inside a research session:

research> What are contemporary strategies for adaptive reuse of heritage masonry buildings?
[evidence-based analysis with citations...]

research> /model ssv.asia/pro      switch to the advanced reasoning model
research> /menu                    back to the main menu

Membership tiers & passes

Community is free forever; paid tiers are 6-hour session passes (buy as you need them).

| Tier | What you get | Best for | |------|--------------|----------| | Community (free) | 10 messages, one-time trial | Evaluating the platform | | Researcher Pass | 6-hr session · large free + pro token budget | Active research & long documents | | Engineer Pass | 6-hr session · bigger budgets + agentic/tool use | Heavy, agentic workflows | | Professional Pass | 6-hr session · top budgets | Power users, deep sessions |

The terminal shows your time left and tokens remaining live in the menu. Buy or renew a pass any time — right from the terminal.

Pricing

| Pass | Price | USD* | Session | Tokens (free + pro) | Capabilities | |------|-------|------|---------|---------------------|--------------| | Community | Free | Free | one-time | 10 messages | Chat with free models | | Researcher | ₹60 | ~$0.63 | 6 hours | 1,000,000 + 1,000,000 | Free + Pro models · web + local document research | | Engineer | ₹120 | ~$1.27 | 6 hours | 2,000,000 + 2,000,000 | Everything in Researcher · agentic tool use | | Professional | ₹180 | ~$1.90 | 6 hours | 3,000,000 + 3,000,000 | Top budgets · deep sessions · priority routing |

*USD shown at ≈ ₹94.74/$ (Jun 2026); billed in INR, so the exact USD amount varies with the exchange rate.

Each pass is a fresh 6-hour window with a full token budget. Tokens count down from full as you use them, so you always see exactly what's left.

Paying with UPI — scan & go

No web checkout, no card forms. Buy a pass inside the terminal:

x            # open the menu
# press  u   → choose a pass

A UPI QR code renders right in your terminal. Scan it with your phone camera (or any UPI app — GPay, PhonePe, Paytm), pay, and your pass activates automatically the moment payment clears — the terminal drops you straight back to the menu with your live session.

Researcher — ₹60

   █▀▀▀▀▀█ ▄▀ █ █▀▀▀▀▀█
   █ ███ █ ▀▄▀  █ ███ █     ← scan with your phone
   █▄▄▄▄▄█ ▀ ▀▀ █▄▄▄▄▄█

Scan with your phone camera (or any UPI app)
Waiting for payment.... ✔ Payment received — pass active for 6 hours!

Payments are processed securely by Razorpay. Your pass is tied to your signed-in ssv.asia account, so it always lands on the right profile.

Commands

x            # sign in / open the menu
x qt         # Quick Thoughts — jot straight into your Obsidian daily note (alias: x ssv)
x qt config  # set your vault path, daily-notes folder, and date format
x logout     # sign out on this device

Quick Thoughts is a free, offline companion: a fast capture mode that timestamps each line and writes it into today's Obsidian daily note. No account or quota needed.

How it works

Expert AI runs entirely through a secured gateway:

• No provider keys on your machine. All model calls route through the Expert AI gateway, which holds credentials server-side. The CLI only ever stores a short-lived, signed session token.
• Members-only. Access is gated by your ssv.asia membership; usage limits are enforced server-side and cannot be bypassed locally.
• Privacy-respecting. No telemetry.

Security & privacy

• Credentials never ship in the package and never touch your disk.
• Session tokens are signed, short-lived, and bound to your account and tier.
• Usage metering and rate limits are enforced atomically on the server.

Support

• Membership & account: https://ssv.asia/
• Upgrades: https://ssv.asia/

License

MIT. Built on the pi agent framework.

Expert AI — professional research for knowledge workers, by ssv.asia.