What is a Knowledge Base?
A knowledge base is the foundation of your agent’s intelligence. It’s a collection of information sources that your agent draws from when answering visitor questions. The quality and relevance of your knowledge base directly determines how helpful your agent will be.How It Works
When a visitor asks your agent a question, here’s what happens behind the scenes:Query Processing
The visitor’s question is analyzed and converted into a format that can be searched against your knowledge base.
Content Retrieval
The system searches through all your knowledge sources to find the most relevant content pieces that match the query.
Source Types
Your knowledge base can include three types of content sources:| Source Type | Description | Best Use Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Web Sources | Pages imported from your website via URL, sitemap, or crawl | Product pages, documentation, blog posts, service descriptions |
| Text Sources | Custom content you write directly in the platform | Internal knowledge, company policies, specialized information |
| Q&A Sources | Specific question-answer pairs you define | FAQs, common support queries, precise answers for specific questions |
Web Sources
Import content directly from your website pages, sitemaps, or through automated crawling.
Text Sources
Add custom text content that may not exist on your website.
Q&A Sources
Create targeted question-answer pairs for precise responses.
Managing Sources
All your knowledge sources are managed from the Sources tab in your agent’s dashboard. From there you can:- Add new sources of any type
- View all existing sources and their status
- Edit source content (for text and Q&A)
- Delete sources you no longer need
- Monitor ingestion status and processing
When you add or update sources, your agent’s knowledge base is automatically updated. Changes typically take effect within a few minutes after processing completes.
Source Status
Each source has a status indicating its current state:| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Source is queued for processing |
| Processing | Content is being extracted and indexed |
| Ready | Source is active and available to your agent |
| Failed | Processing encountered an error (check source details) |
Best Practices
Focus on quality over quantity
Focus on quality over quantity
Adding hundreds of irrelevant pages can actually hurt your agent’s performance. Be selective and include only content that visitors would actually ask about.
Organize content logically
Organize content logically
Group related information together. If you have product pages, support articles, and company info, make sure each is well-structured and covers topics comprehensively.
Keep content up to date
Keep content up to date
Remove outdated sources and add new content regularly. An agent giving outdated information can frustrate visitors and damage trust.
Use multiple source types together
Use multiple source types together
Web sources are great for existing content, but supplement with Q&A pairs for common questions and text sources for information not on your website.
Test after adding sources
Test after adding sources
After adding new sources, test your agent in the Playground with relevant questions to verify it’s using the new content appropriately.
Common Scenarios
Scenario 1: Documentation Website
If you have technical documentation, import your docs pages via sitemap. Supplement with Q&A pairs for the most common “how do I…” questions.Scenario 2: E-commerce Site
Import product pages and category descriptions. Add Q&A pairs for shipping policies, return processes, and sizing guides that might not be in your main content.Scenario 3: Service Business
Import your services pages and case studies. Add text sources for internal processes and Q&A pairs for pricing and availability questions.Next Steps
Add Web Sources
Learn how to import content from your website using URLs, sitemaps, or crawling.
Create Text Sources
Add custom text content to your knowledge base.
Build Q&A Pairs
Create targeted question-answer pairs for precise responses.
Test Your Agent
Verify your knowledge base is working in the Playground.