BuildMemory

Knowledge Base

Store content your agents retrieve during conversations with RAG
View as Markdown

A knowledge base holds documents and pages your agents can query during calls using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). This page covers how to create a knowledge base, describe when the agent should search it, add sources, attach a base to an agent, and review searches in call logs.

How to create a knowledge base

In the dashboard, open Knowledge Bases and create a new knowledge base. Give it a clear name, then define when the agent should search the knowledge base.

That condition should describe the situations or user questions that should trigger a lookup—for example, when the caller asks how to use your product or requests policy details. Do not use this field for general prompting (such as objection-handling or tone instructions); it only controls when a search runs, not how the agent speaks.

Best practices:

  • Be explicit about the scenarios that should trigger a search.
  • Keep each source focused on a single topic; split large PDFs when it helps retrieval.
  • Review and update content regularly so agents do not rely on outdated material.

After you save the knowledge base, add sources (see below), then attach it to an agent.

1

You can add content using one of the following methods:

  • *Upload PDF File: import documents directly.
  • *Blank Document: manually add and edit content.
  • Paste from URL: pull content from an external webpage.
  • Website Crawl (new): crawl multiple pages from a root URL asynchronously. See Crawl a Website for Knowledge Base.
  • Import from Integration (new): import content from supported integrations such as Zendesk. See Import Knowledge Base Content from Zendesk.

From the knowledge base screen, add any combination of:

  • PDFs from your device.
  • Blank documents to type or paste content when you add the source.
  • URLs to fetch and analyze a webpage.

The agent searches across every source on that knowledge base. Each import covers one URL only—add separate imports for additional pages; Synthflow does not crawl an entire site from a single link.

Attach to an agent

An agent only runs knowledge base searches when a knowledge base is attached to that agent. Bases you create elsewhere in the workspace are not used until you link them.

To attach one, open the agent in the agent editor, go to Knowledge & Memory, and choose the knowledge base you want. Save your changes, then publish a new version so that agent can retrieve from it on live calls.

Connect external knowledge bases

Connecting your own database as a knowledge source for agents is not available yet. Support is coming soon.

Track activity in call logs

When an agent looks up your knowledge base during a call, open your call logs to see the lookup.

Some relevant information you may find interesting:

  • Which knowledge base was used
  • The situation you set for when the agent should search
  • How the caller’s wording compares to the search the agent actually ran
  • How many matches came back and how long the lookup took
  • Whether the lookup succeeded

Together, this helps you confirm a search ran when you expected and spot problems early.

FAQ

The knowledge base stores information the agent can reference during a conversation. It suits large or changing content you do not want to paste into the prompt. At answer time the agent searches for relevant snippets; it does not load the entire knowledge base into context at once.

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) lets the model use your uploaded or linked content when generating a reply, instead of relying only on built-in training data.

The agent matches the conversation to content in the knowledge base using semantic search over the material you added.

Usually the agent paraphrases. If a passage is clear and well structured, it may repeat short phrases exactly when appropriate.

If conflicting information exists across multiple documents (e.g., different figures in different files), the agent’s response may be inconsistent and depend on which document it selects.

To prevent this, you can:

  • Remove or update outdated content on a regular basis.
  • Ensure consistency across documents.
  • Test agent responses to verify accuracy.

You can add Knowledge Base content by uploading PDFs, creating documents directly, pasting a single URL, running a website crawl, or importing from supported integrations (for example, Zendesk).

Yes, you can mix sources such as PDFs, single-page URLs, website crawls, integration imports, and documents created in Synthflow. The agent will search through all available content regardless of source.

Paste from URL processes only the page you provide. If you want to index multiple pages, use the crawler flow described in Crawl a Website for Knowledge Base.

Complex layouts (columns, heavy images, unusual formatting) may not extract cleanly. If uploads fail or look wrong, try a simpler PDF or plain text.

The agent retrieves relevant sections rather than reading a file end to end. Clear headings and smaller, topic-focused files improve results.

You cannot manually rank documents. Improve outcomes with clearer writing, tighter scope per file, and removing noise.

Open the call in your call logs and select the Actions tab. If the agent ran a lookup, you will see an action for that knowledge base search (often titled like your knowledge base). If nothing appears there, no knowledge base search was recorded for that call.

Refine the search condition, improve source structure and headings, and test alternate caller phrasing. Use call logs to confirm whether a search ran and what query was used.

Open Call Details and go to the Actions tab. If Knowledge Base retrieval ran, you will see <knowledge-base-name> Search actions. Open one and inspect request fields (knowledge_base_id, query_from_user, rag_use_condition) and return values (status, results_count, and results) to confirm it was triggered.

For a full walkthrough, see Verify Knowledge Base Trigger in Calls.