Chat Knowledge Sources
Knowledge sources are the HelpGuides projects your chat's AI agent answers from. Many companies split their content, for example product docs, developer docs and sales material. The AI can use any of your projects and pick the right one for each question.
Choosing sources
Go to Inbox, then Messenger settings, then the AI agent tab, and scroll to Knowledge sources. Every project in your account is listed.
- Tick each project the AI may answer from.
- For each one, describe what it covers and when to use it. The AI reads these descriptions to decide where to look.
- Click Save settings.
If you tick nothing, the AI answers from the messenger's own project. If you leave a description blank, the project's own description is used.
Writing good descriptions
Be concrete about topics and who asks them:
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Product documentation | How to use the app: campaigns, email, SMS, contacts and reports. Use for how-to and troubleshooting questions from customers. |
| Developer documentation | REST API, webhooks, JavaScript SDK and integrations. Use for code, API and integration questions. |
| Sales | Plans, pricing, feature comparisons and trials. Use for buying and "can it do X" questions. |
How the AI picks
For each question, the AI chooses the one to three most relevant sources. The first is the primary source: the one whose topic the question is about, so a pricing question goes to your sales material first.
- The chosen sources are searched together, so their articles are ranked against each other. The primary source's strong matches are read first, and the remaining places (up to 4 articles in all) go to the best matches from any source, so a better answer elsewhere still gets in.
- When sources disagree, the AI trusts the primary source.
- Follow-up questions stay with the source the AI last answered from, unless the visitor changes topic.
- If it can't tell which source fits, it searches them all with no preference.
- Each link in an answer points to the article on its own project's site.
In the inbox, each AI answer shows Answered from … underneath with the source it used. The Test tab shows the sources searched and the one that answered.
Internal sources: use without linking
Some content should inform answers without ever being shown to visitors, such as a sales playbook or private notes. For those sources, switch off Link to articles:
- The AI can use the content to answer.
- It never links to it, quotes it as a document, or tells visitors to read it.
- It isn't listed under Sources, and any link to that project's site is removed from answers.
- Your team still sees it in the inbox, as "Also used, not shown to the visitor".
Sources in the Help tab
When Show help articles in the messenger is on (General tab, Appearance), visitors get a Help tab where they can browse and search your help center without leaving the chat. The Help tab shows one project, chosen under Help articles from on the same tab. By default it's the messenger's own project. Its categories, articles and search come only from that project, while the AI still answers from all your knowledge sources. A project set as an internal source (Link to articles off) is never shown. See What Visitors See in the Chat Messenger.
What the AI can and can't use
- Only published articles are used. Drafts are never used.
- Only projects in your account can be sources.
- The AI never answers from outside knowledge.
Improving answers
The Chat Reports page lists every question the AI couldn't answer. Writing an article for each one is the fastest way to raise your AI resolution rate. The Dashboard shows how your articles are performing.
See also Configuring the Chat AI Agent.