Pinecone Quickstart

Welcome! This skill walks you through your first Pinecone experience using the tools available to you. In this quickstart, you will learn how to do a simple form of semantic search over some example data.

Prerequisites

Before starting either path, verify:

1. PINECONE_API_KEY is set in the environment. Get a free key at https://app.pinecone.io/?sessionType=signup
2. For the Database path: the Pinecone MCP server must be configured and available

Step 0: Choose Your Path

Use AskUserQuestion (or any available user-input tool) to ask the user which path they want:

• Database – Build a vector search index. Best for developers who want to store and search embeddings. Uses the Pinecone MCP + a Python upsert script.
• Assistant – Build a document Q&A assistant. Best for users who want to upload files and ask questions with cited answers. No code required.