Knowledge bases

A knowledge base is a set of your own material (folders, files, links). Once it has been processed, Alphie draws on it when answering, and you can attach it to agents. Knowledge bases live under Library in the left sidebar; the first tab, Knowledge, is the list of knowledge bases.

How do I create a new knowledge base?

Click Library in the left sidebar and stay on the Knowledge tab at the top.
At the end of the knowledge base cards, click the card labelled New Knowledge Base (hint: "Turn a Drive folder, file, or URL into agent-ready knowledge.").
You're taken to Chat, and "I want to create a new knowledge base…" is sent for you.
Alphie asks three things: what to call it, where the material is (which folder), and what questions it should help answer. Once you answer, it creates the knowledge base and registers the source.

You can also skip the card and just say in chat "Turn … into a knowledge base".

How do I turn a folder on my computer into a knowledge base?

First install the desktop client on that computer and keep it signed in (see "Devices and the desktop client"). The material is on your computer, and Alphie can only reach it through the client.
Tell Alphie in chat where the folder is, e.g. "Make the Documents/Reading notes folder on my computer into a knowledge base".
Alphie fetches the files from that folder through the client and registers them as the knowledge base's source. You don't need to upload anything by hand.
Only after a sync finishes (see the next section) does the knowledge base actually contain the content; from then on Alphie can answer from it.

If the client isn't running, Alphie will remind you to open it first.

Why can't Alphie find anything in my new knowledge base?

Creating a knowledge base and adding a folder only registers it; the files haven't been read yet. The content becomes searchable after a sync finishes:

A sync runs automatically every night.
To use it right away, ask Alphie to "sync this knowledge base now", or click the sync button (sync now) under Sources in the knowledge base's detail view. The sync runs in the background; you can follow it on the Task page.
Syncing costs money: every new or changed file is processed once, and Alphie tells you first when there are many files.

How do I see what's in a knowledge base?

Click a knowledge base card under Library → Knowledge to open its detail view. The left side has:

Wiki: an overview of the knowledge base.
Pages: every processed entry; click one to read it.
Sources: the folders this knowledge base draws from. Here you can click Add folder (pick a folder from your Alphie Cloud files; it's included at the next sync), sync now, or remove a folder from the knowledge base.
Activity: import and processing history; for many knowledge bases this is empty and shown greyed out.
Settings: whether it syncs automatically, last sync time, total spent on syncing, visibility, and which agents use it.
Used by at the bottom of the left side also lists the agents it's attached to.

How do I get Alphie to answer from my knowledge base?

Nothing special is needed. When you ask a question in chat, Alphie automatically looks through your knowledge bases for relevant content, and when it finds some it reads the matching entry before answering. You can also name it directly, e.g. "Based on my reading-notes knowledge base, …".

To have an agent use a particular knowledge base, just ask Alphie to attach it to that agent.

How do I delete a knowledge base?

Not possible yet. The Delete… button under Danger zone at the bottom of the knowledge base's Settings is greyed out and says it can't be deleted here yet. Export knowledge base isn't available either.

Can other people see my knowledge base?

No. The knowledge base's Settings shows "Visibility: Private — only you, and the agents you mount it on, can read it."