A knowledge base is a collection of documents, FAQs, or reference material that your AI assistant can search and reference during a conversation. Instead of cramming all your business information into the system prompt, you can store it in a knowledge base and let the assistant retrieve relevant information on demand. This keeps your prompt focused while giving the assistant access to a much richer set of information.
When to Use a Knowledge Base
Knowledge bases are most valuable when you have a large amount of reference information that the assistant needs to access selectively — not all at once. Good candidates for knowledge base content include:
- Detailed product or service descriptions
- Frequently asked questions and their answers
- Pricing tables and package comparisons
- Policies (refund policy, cancellation policy, terms of service)
- Location information and directions
- Technical documentation or troubleshooting guides
- Staff bios or department contact information
If the information is short and always relevant (like the assistant's name or the company's main phone number), keep it in the system prompt. If it is long and only sometimes relevant, put it in a knowledge base.
Creating a Knowledge Base
Navigate to Knowledge Bases in the left sidebar and click New Knowledge Base. Give it a descriptive name. You can then add content in several ways:
Upload Documents
Upload PDF, Word, or text files. The system will extract and index the content automatically. This is the fastest way to add large amounts of existing documentation.
Add URLs
Provide website URLs and the system will crawl and index the content. Useful for importing your existing FAQ pages, product pages, or help center articles.
Manual Entry
Type or paste content directly into the editor. Best for custom FAQs, policies, or any content that does not exist elsewhere in a document format.
Connecting a Knowledge Base to an Assistant
Once your knowledge base is created and populated, you need to connect it to your assistant. In the assistant editor, go to Knowledge Base and select the knowledge base(s) you want the assistant to use. You can connect multiple knowledge bases to a single assistant.
When the assistant receives a question, it will automatically search the connected knowledge bases for relevant information before formulating a response. You do not need to explicitly tell the assistant to use the knowledge base — it does this automatically.
Best Practices for Knowledge Base Content
| Practice | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Use clear headings and structure | Helps the AI identify and retrieve the right sections |
| Write in plain language | The AI retrieves text verbatim — overly technical language may confuse callers |
| Keep entries focused | One topic per document or section improves retrieval accuracy |
| Update regularly | Outdated information in the knowledge base will produce incorrect answers |
| Include question-answer pairs | FAQs in Q&A format are retrieved very accurately |
Monitoring Knowledge Base Usage
In the Conversations section, you can see which knowledge base entries the assistant retrieved for each call. This helps you identify gaps — if the assistant frequently fails to find relevant information, you may need to add more content or rephrase existing entries to better match how callers ask questions.