create_knowledge_base

io.agent4/agent4-tenant · Verify this server

Create a knowledge base. **Write `description` — it is what routes questions to this base.** Before each answer the platform reads every attached base's `description` and decides which ones this question needs; a base whose description is vague or blank gets searched when it should not, or missed when it should. One line, in the words a visitor would use, naming the subject **and the boundary**: "Country-by-country medical device registration requirements — not company or pricing information." It is also the line shown in the console list, but that is the lesser job. **Write `instructions` at creation time — do not leave it blank.** It is injected next to this KB's excerpts whenever they are retrieved. It does NOT affect recall (recall is vector search + max_distance); it governs how the model USES what was retrieved. Derive it from the expected usage, one line each: - Scope: what it covers / does not, and what to do when out of scope ("Covers residential mortgages only; for car or personal loans, say so and hand off"). - Authority: where it ranks ("Current company policy; overrides industry norms"). - Usage rules specific to this content ("Any quoted rate must state its effective date"). The generic "answer from the excerpts; say when not covered" is built into the platform — never repeat it here. Blank is acceptable only for generic reference material with no special rules. Worked examples: search_agent4_docs("knowledge base instructions examples"). max_distance is the relevance cutoff (blank = global default 0.6); tighten for regulatory content, and calibrate against real queries rather than guessing. top_k is how many passages this base contributes per turn (1-10, blank = 3). Set it from the **shape of the documents**, not from how important the base feels: if a typical document is five passages long, three of them is a third of a record, and the model answers from a fragment. Measured on an 8,500-record regulation base whose median document is 5 passages — at k=3 the right record was retrieved 36/40 times but only 4 answers had enough to go on; at k=6, same hit rate, 12. Going to 10 added 3 more and 77% more material. More is not free: material in the prompt suppresses tool calls, dose-dependently.