Add knowledge sources for your AI assistant

The knowledge base is what your community's AI assistant (AI Copilot) reads to answer questions. Add files, websites, and Q&A entries under Admin → AI Copilot → Knowledge sources (previously called Knowledge Base) to train the assistant on your own material.

Who can do this: Owners and admins. · Where: Web (admin console). · Plan: The knowledge base, how many documents it can hold, the file size limit, scheduled refresh, and advanced parsing depend on your platform plan.

Knowledge source types

Click Add Source on the Documents, websites & Q&A tab of the Knowledge sources page to open Add Knowledge Source. Choose one Source Type:

• File Upload: documents (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Markdown, text, CSV, HTML, RTF, EPUB, JSON) and images (PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, TIFF), whose text is read with OCR.
• URL Import: crawls pages from a website, such as your help center or docs.
• Q&A: question-and-answer pairs you write yourself. They're ready to use as soon as you save them.

Community posts aren't added as a knowledge source. They have their own Community posts tab on the same page. To let the assistant search posts, see Choose which spaces your AI assistant can search.

Upload files to the knowledge base

1. Go to Admin → AI Copilot → Knowledge sources and click Add Source.
2. Choose File Upload.
3. Drag files onto the upload area, or click it to choose files. The Name fills in from the first file.
4. Click Create Source. Indexing starts automatically.

If your plan limits file size, the upload area shows the limit. Uploaded files are used only for the knowledge base and don't appear in your media library. To add more files later, open the source and click Upload Document.

Import a website into the knowledge base

1. Click Add Source and choose URL Import. Enter a Name.
2. In Entry URLs, enter the pages where the crawl starts, one per line.
3. In Allowed Domains, enter the domains the crawl may visit. Turn on Include Subdomains to follow subdomains too.
4. Optionally, choose an Auto Refresh frequency (see the next section).
5. Click Create Source. The first crawl starts right away.

Advanced settings covers crawl depth, sitemap scanning, page limits, URL patterns, parsing, and chunking; the defaults suit most sites. The crawl always respects robots.txt.

Keep a website source up to date with Auto Refresh

Auto Refresh re-crawls a URL Import source on a schedule, so the knowledge base keeps up with the website. Set Frequency to Off, Every day, Every 3 days, or Every week when you create the source, or later with Edit Source.

• The first automatic refresh runs about one interval after you save. To fetch the pages now, click Sync now in the source's ⋯ menu. Re-sync from scratch first removes what the AI has learned from the source, so the AI can't answer from it until the job finishes.
• The Last sync column shows the next refresh.
• If refreshes fail, the list shows Auto refresh failing — view jobs. After repeated failures, automatic refresh stops until a manual Re-sync from scratch succeeds.
• If your plan doesn't include it, the setting shows Scheduled refresh is not part of the current plan. Existing schedules are paused, not deleted.

Add Q&A entries to the knowledge base

Q&A entries are the fastest way to give the AI assistant an exact answer.

1. Click Add Source, choose Q&A, enter a Name, and click Create Source.
2. Click the source's name, View entries in the Status column, or Manage Q&A in its ⋯ menu, to open its entries.
3. Click Add Q&A. Enter the Question and the Answer (Markdown works). To start from a draft based on your knowledge base, click Draft with AI, then review it.
4. Optionally, add Alternative phrasings, one per line, for other ways members ask the same thing.
5. Click Add to Knowledge Base.

You can also click Add to KB next to a question on the Needs content tab of Admin → AI Copilot → Questions, or Save as Q&A entry in a question's details. See Review AI assistant answers and fill gaps.

Check a knowledge source's indexing status

The Status column in Knowledge Sources shows Indexed, Indexing..., Queued, Failed, Cancelled, or Not indexed. Hover over Failed to see the error. Q&A sources show View entries instead, and each Q&A entry shows Indexed, Indexing, or Index failed with a Retry button.

To retry a failed job or cancel a running one, click View Job History in the source's ⋯ menu.

See which knowledge sources the AI assistant uses

The Used (30 days) column shows how many AI answers cited each knowledge source in the last 30 days. It shows Not used if none did, which can mean the source is out of date or no longer needed. Hover over a number to see when the source was last used. To put the busiest sources first, set the sort menu above the list to Most used first. Each Q&A entry has the same column on its source's page.

Turn off or remove a knowledge source

• Pause a source: turn off its Enabled switch. The AI assistant stops using it right away, including crawled content. Nothing is deleted; turn it back on to restore it without re-crawling.
• Delete a source: in its ⋯ menu, click Delete Source, then Confirm. All of its indexed documents are removed.
• Delete one file or page: open the source, go to Documents, and click the trash icon in the Actions column. This can't be undone.
• Remove a Q&A entry: click Delete on the source's entries page, or turn off its Enabled switch to keep it unused.

Troubleshooting the knowledge base

Symptom: New pages or files aren't added, and the job shows Document limit reached. Why it happens: the knowledge base has reached your plan's document limit. Fix: delete sources you don't need, or upgrade. Admin → Billing → Usage shows Knowledge base documents.

Symptom: A banner says AI for members is off. Why it happens: the AI assistant is off, so changes don't take effect. Fix: turn on Enable AI for members under Admin → AI Copilot → Member assistant.

Related articles

• Set up your community's AI assistant
• Choose which spaces your AI assistant can search
• Review AI assistant answers and fill gaps
• AI features in your community