Knowledge sources let you provide Slate AI with hand-picked online information to prioritize its search.

If Slate AI finds an answer in your sources, it can return an answer faster. If it can’t find an answer in the sources you give it, it expands its search to the wider web (assuming you haven’t told it not to as part of its prompt).

You can add knowledge sources to AI-enabled chat bots (specifically, to an agent or an AI chat bot) and to Slate AI (the general-purpose tool accessible from the user menu sidebar on any Slate page).

Source crawling frequency

Knowledge sources are periodically re-crawled to ensure the most up-to-date content is available. Crawling currently occurs at least monthly, with plans to increase this frequency over time.

Creating a new knowledge source

To create a knowledge source:

1. Go to Database → Bots.

2. Select New Knowledge Source.

3. Configure the following settings:

   • Status: Active

   • Name: Enter a name for the knowledge source.

   • URL Patterns: Enter a list of URLs, one per line. You can use wildcards * to match all sub-directories as follows:

     • Include only an exact URL: https://technolutions.com/about

     • Include all URLs under a folder: https://technolutions.com/slatest-news/*

     • Include all URLs on a domain: https://technolutions.com/*

       

4. Select Save.

The knowledge source is created pending its initial crawl.

When Slate crawls the URLs you’ve provided, it indexes their contents and prepares it for access by associated, AI-enabled bots (covered in the next section).

To preview the HTTP response the bot will receive:

1. Select Test URL

2. Enter one of the URLs included in your source’s allowed URL patterns

3. Select Crawl.

Associating a knowledge source with an AI-enabled chat bot

1. Return to Database → Bots.

2. Select an existing AI-enabled bot (an agent or AI chat bot), or create a new one.

3. Select Edit.

4. Select as many knowledge sources as required.

   

5. Select Save.

The bot can now answer questions about the information contained in its associated knowledge sources.

Use Preview Bot to test it out.

Granting Slate AI internal access to a knowledge source

You can associate knowledge sources with users, permissions, or roles.

When those individuals use the general-purpose internal Slate AI tool, accessible from any Slate page in the user menu sidebar, their requests pass through their associated knowledge sources first. If Slate AI finds an answer there, it returns it. If it doesn’t, it expands its search to the wider Internet.

1. Go to an existing knowledge source, or create a new one.

2. Select the arrow next to Edit.

3. Select Edit Permissions.

4. Select Add Grantee.

5. Configure the following settings:

   • Active: Active

   • Type: Select the type of access being applied to the knowledge source.

     • User: A User field appears. Enter the user’s name.

     • Role: A select list appears. Choose the desired role.

     • Permission: A select list of permissions appears. Select the desired permission.

   • Permission: Select Slate AI Searchable

     

6. Select Save.