---
id: nlu-only
sidebar_label: Using NLU Only
title: Using NLU Only
abstract: Find out how to use only Rasa NLU as a standalone NLU service for your chatbot or virtual assistant.
---

If you want to use Rasa only as an NLU component, you can!

## Training NLU-only models

To train an NLU model only, run:

```bash
rasa train nlu
```

This will look for NLU training data files in the ``data/`` directory
and saves a trained model in the ``models/`` directory.
The name of the model will start with ``nlu-``.


## Testing your NLU model on the command line

To try out your NLU model on the command line, run the following command:

```bash
rasa shell nlu
```

This will start the rasa shell and ask you to type in a message to test.
You can keep typing in as many messages as you like.

Alternatively, you can leave out the ``nlu`` argument and pass in a nlu-only model directly:

```bash
rasa shell -m models/nlu-20190515-144445.tar.gz
```

## Running an NLU server

To start a server with your NLU model, pass in the model name at runtime:

```bash
rasa run --enable-api -m models/nlu-20190515-144445.tar.gz
```

You can then request predictions from your model using the ``/model/parse`` endpoint.
To do this, run:

```bash
curl localhost:5005/model/parse -d '{"text":"hello"}'
```
