# Introduction

## Welcome to the documentation for Caterpillar.

Here you can find information pertaining to the following:

* Historical design and implementation decisions.
* Data products.
* How to obtain access.
* Basic data manipulation using public tools.
* Authorship policies.

{% hint style="info" %}
 The status of The Caterpillar Project is now effectively **Public.**
{% endhint %}

If you require any help or support, head to the [community Slack channel](https://caterpillarproject.slack.com).


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.caterpillarproject.org/master.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.