> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cloudthinker.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Knowledge Base

> Create and manage knowledge bases to enhance your AI agents with organizational knowledge, documents, and procedures

Give your AI agents access to your organizational knowledge by uploading documents or crawling websites. Your agents can then reference this information to provide better, more contextual responses.

***

## The Problem With Generic AI

Generic AI models know AWS best practices — but they don't know *your* AWS environment. They don't know that your company policy requires all S3 buckets to use SSE-KMS with a specific key ARN. They don't know that your disaster recovery RTO is 4 hours, not the AWS-recommended 1 hour. They don't know your incident response procedure mandates an Opsgenie alert before any remediation action.

The result: generic AI recommendations that conflict with your policies, contradict your existing documentation, or miss company-specific context that every senior engineer knows.

**Knowledge Base solves this.** By connecting your runbooks, policies, compliance documents, and architecture documentation, CloudThinker agents operate with your organization's institutional knowledge — not just general cloud best practices.

***

## How It Compares to Generic RAG

| Approach                    | Generic AI             | CloudThinker Knowledge Base                           |
| --------------------------- | ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Company policies**        | Unknown                | Indexed and referenced in every relevant response     |
| **Custom runbooks**         | Not available          | Automatically pulled when relevant                    |
| **Architecture context**    | Generic best practices | Your specific design decisions and constraints        |
| **Compliance requirements** | Standard frameworks    | Your specific audit requirements and evidence formats |
| **Incident procedures**     | Generic steps          | Your company's exact escalation paths and tools       |

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Document Upload" icon="upload" color="#00A8CC">
    **Upload Files**

    Add PDFs, Word docs, and text files to create knowledge repositories
  </Card>

  <Card title="Web Crawling" icon="globe" color="#28A745">
    **Crawl Websites**

    Automatically index websites, wikis, and documentation sites
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Quick Setup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create Knowledge Base">
    Go to **Knowledge** in CloudThinker and click **"Create Knowledge Base"**
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose Type">
    Select **Document Upload** or **Web Crawler** based on your content source
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure Settings">
    * **Name**: Give it a descriptive name
    * **Description**: Brief overview of the content
    * **Access**: Choose who can use this knowledge base
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add Content">
    Upload documents or set up web crawling (see sections below)
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Document Upload

### Supported Files

* **Text**: TXT, Markdown, RTF
* **Office**: Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), Excel (.xlsx)
* **PDF**: Adobe PDF files
* **Web**: HTML, XML, JSON

### How to Upload

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Single File">
    1. Click **"Upload Document"**
    2. Choose your file (max 50MB)
    3. Add title and tags
    4. Click **"Upload"**
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Multiple Files">
    1. Drag and drop up to 100 files
    2. Or upload a ZIP file
    3. Add batch metadata
    4. Click **"Process All"**
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Web Crawling

### Basic Setup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Enter Website URL">
    Provide the starting webpage URL to crawl
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Limits">
    * **Depth**: How many clicks deep (1-10)
    * **Pages**: Maximum pages to crawl (100-10,000)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose Schedule">
    * **One-time**: Single crawl
    * **Daily**: Update every 24 hours
    * **Weekly**: Weekly updates
    * **Manual**: Only when you trigger it
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Common Examples

* Documentation sites (GitBook, Confluence)
* Company wikis
* Help centers and FAQs
* GitHub repositories

***

## Using Knowledge Bases

### Access Modes

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Always Available" icon="robot" color="#00A8CC">
    **Automatic**

    Agents automatically use this knowledge in all conversations
  </Card>

  <Card title="Manual Search" icon="search" color="#FF9900">
    **On-Demand**

    Agents only use when you ask with `#kb` command
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Agent Commands

```bash theme={null}
# Search any knowledge base
@alex #kb find AWS cost optimization strategies

# Search specific knowledge base
@tony #kb:database-guide PostgreSQL backup procedures

# Let agents decide when to use knowledge (Always mode)
@oliver analyze this security incident
# Oliver automatically references security procedures
```

### Agent Examples

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Alex - Cloud Engineer">
    **Knowledge Types:**

    * AWS documentation and guides
    * Cost optimization playbooks
    * Infrastructure procedures

    **Example:**

    ```
    @alex #kb find EC2 cost savings
    → References uploaded cost optimization guide
    → Provides specific recommendations
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Oliver - Security">
    **Knowledge Types:**

    * Security policies and procedures
    * Compliance documentation
    * Incident response playbooks

    **Example:**

    ```
    @oliver #kb security incident response
    → References uploaded incident procedures
    → Provides step-by-step guidance
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Tony - Database">
    **Knowledge Types:**

    * Database administration guides
    * Performance tuning documentation
    * Backup and recovery procedures

    **Example:**

    ```
    @tony #kb PostgreSQL performance tuning
    → References database optimization guide
    → Suggests specific improvements
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

***

## Best Practices

### Content Organization

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Document Structure" icon="list" color="#00A8CC">
    **Make it Searchable**

    * Use clear headings (H1, H2, H3)
    * Include table of contents
    * Add relevant keywords
    * Use bullet points and lists
  </Card>

  <Card title="Tagging" icon="tags" color="#28A745">
    **Smart Organization**

    * Use consistent tag names
    * Include functional tags (security, database, aws)
    * Add priority levels (critical, reference)
    * Include department/team tags
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Maintenance Tips

* Review and update content monthly
* Remove outdated documents
* Monitor which content gets used most
* Test search functionality regularly

***

## Quick Examples

### Example 1: Company Procedures

```yaml theme={null}
Name: "Operations Procedures"
Type: Document Upload
Content: 
  - Employee handbook (PDF)
  - IT policies (Word docs)
  - Emergency procedures (PDF)
Access: Always Available
Agents: All agents can reference
```

### Example 2: Technical Documentation

```yaml theme={null}
Name: "AWS Documentation"
Type: Web Crawler
URL: "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/"
Schedule: Weekly updates
Access: Manual (#kb command)
Agents: Alex (primary), others as needed
```

### Example 3: Security Policies

```yaml theme={null}
Name: "Security Compliance"
Type: Document Upload
Content:
  - SOC 2 checklist (PDF)
  - Security policies (Multiple PDFs)
  - Incident templates (Word)
Access: Manual (sensitive content)
Agents: Oliver (full access), others (limited)
```

***

## Getting Started Checklist

<Steps>
  <Step title="Plan Your Knowledge">
    * [ ] Identify key documents and websites
    * [ ] Decide on naming conventions
    * [ ] Choose access levels for each knowledge base
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create Your First KB">
    * [ ] Create knowledge base in CloudThinker
    * [ ] Upload 3-5 important documents OR set up web crawling
    * [ ] Add proper tags and descriptions
    * [ ] Test search functionality
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure Agents">
    * [ ] Set knowledge base access for each agent
    * [ ] Test manual search with `#kb` commands
    * [ ] Configure "Always Available" for critical knowledge
    * [ ] Train your team on usage commands
  </Step>

  <Step title="Monitor & Improve">
    * [ ] Check which content gets used most
    * [ ] Update outdated information
    * [ ] Add new knowledge based on team needs
    * [ ] Gather feedback and optimize
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Troubleshooting

<Accordion title="Agents can't find information">
  **Solutions:**

  * Check if agent has access to the knowledge base
  * Verify knowledge base is set to "Always Available" or use `#kb` command
  * Improve document titles and add more keywords
  * Test search with different terms
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Documents won't upload">
  **Solutions:**

  * Check file size (max 50MB per file)
  * Ensure file type is supported
  * Verify document isn't password-protected
  * Try uploading one file at a time
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Web crawling not working">
  **Solutions:**

  * Verify the website URL is accessible
  * Check if website blocks crawlers (robots.txt)
  * Start with smaller page limits
  * Try crawling a single page first
</Accordion>

***

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="🚀 Create Knowledge Base" icon="rocket" href="https://app.cloudthinker.io/knowledge">
    **Get Started Now**

    Create your first knowledge base and start uploading content
  </Card>

  <Card title="🤖 Configure Agents" icon="robot" href="/guide/agents">
    **Setup AI Agents**

    Configure your agents to use your knowledge bases effectively
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

<Note>
  **Success Tips:**

  * Start small with your most important documents
  * Use clear, descriptive names for everything
  * Test search functionality before going live
  * Train your team on the `#kb` command syntax
</Note>