Knowledge base: a chatbot built on your own content
An AI chatbot on your own data doesn’t need training. You add the URLs of your pages and write golden answers; the assistant searches them for relevant passages and links the pages it used as sources.
How a chatbot on your own data works
A general-purpose language model doesn’t know your opening hours, delivery terms or application process. For an AI chatbot to answer from your own data, it needs a knowledge base: a collection of your content that it searches for relevant passages. In Kyros, the knowledge base has two building blocks: the web pages whose URLs you add, and golden answers you write yourself.
Nothing gets trained
People often talk about “training” a chatbot on their own data. Kyros doesn’t train or fine-tune a model. When a question comes in, the assistant retrieves the relevant passages from your pages and writes its answer from them. This approach is called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). In practice, when you update a page, the assistant uses the new version as soon as the page has been fetched again; there’s nothing to retrain. And per our privacy policy, your data is not used to train AI models. Kyros is hosted in Germany; each message is processed by the provider of the AI model you choose, not always in Germany.
Where the answers come from
When an answer draws on your pages, numbered “Further Links” appear below it, so visitors can check what the assistant said. For questions that should always get the same answer, such as prices, deadlines or who handles what, you add a golden answer; the assistant is instructed to use it word for word. If your content has nothing relevant, the assistant is instructed to say so. That’s an instruction, not a guarantee, which is why every widget notes that answers are AI-generated and may be inaccurate.
Keep folders from Nextcloud and SharePoint in sync
On plans with external sources, you connect a Nextcloud folder or a SharePoint Online document library to the knowledge base. At the interval you choose (every 15 minutes to daily), Kyros checks which files are new, changed or deleted and takes over the changes. Access is limited to that one folder and is read-only: in Nextcloud through a separate user with an app password, in SharePoint through administrator consent and a read grant on exactly one library. Kyros doesn’t keep the original files, only the extracted text. Ask us through the contact form which plans include external sources.
The limits: your Nextcloud must be reachable from the internet over HTTPS on port 443; servers only on an internal network or behind a VPN can’t be connected. SharePoint Online is supported, SharePoint Server in your own data centre is not. Kyros doesn’t take over permissions of individual people: the chatbot may repeat anything in the connected folder to every visitor. The guides for Nextcloud and SharePoint describe the setup.
What isn’t possible
You can upload PDF and Word (DOCX) files as well as TXT, Markdown and CSV files of up to 20 MB each; Kyros takes in the text they contain. Scanned PDFs without a text layer are only read on plans with text recognition (OCR). Excel, PowerPoint and other formats can’t be added. Kyros doesn’t take in your whole website unasked. It finds your pages through your sitemap or by following the site’s links, but only the pages you select go into the knowledge base. Pages that load their links with JavaScript only aren’t found by the search; use the sitemap or a URL list for those. If some information only lives in a spreadsheet, turn the key points into golden answers.
What the chatbot knowledge base does
Many URLs at once
Paste page URLs in bulk, one per line. Kyros spots duplicate pages, even when the address differs only by case, “www” or utm_/fbclid parameters.
Automatic re-sync
If you want, Kyros fetches your pages again on a schedule, for the whole knowledge base or per page. How often depends on your plan. Unchanged text isn’t processed again.
Golden answers
Question-and-answer pairs the assistant is instructed to use word for word: for prices, deadlines and anything that has to be exact.
Sources under the answer
When an answer draws on your pages, numbered “Further Links” below it lead to the original page.
One knowledge base, several assistants
Knowledge bases belong to the workspace. Assign one to several assistants and maintain the content in one place.
Corrections from Chatlogs
If an answer is off, click Revise in Chatlogs. The correction is saved as a golden answer.
How to fill your knowledge base
- Create a knowledge base and assign it to your assistant.
- Under Documents, paste the URLs of your pages, one per line: services, pricing, FAQs and contact, for example.
- Track the status: Queued → Fetch → Parse & embed → Ready. Duplicates and failed fetches are flagged.
- Set one refresh schedule for the whole knowledge base or adjust it per page, as often as every 6 hours depending on your plan.
- Under Q&A, write golden answers for questions where every word has to be right.
- Test in the preview, then fix weak answers later in Chatlogs with Revise.
When your content has no answer
The assistant is instructed to say so. To keep the request from getting lost, an Interactive Card (Beta) can help, for example a contact form asking for name, email and what it’s about. Submissions are stored per Card and can be exported as CSV.
Questions about a chatbot on your own data
Can I train an AI chatbot on my own data?
Kyros doesn’t train a model at all. The assistant searches your knowledge base, meaning the pages whose URLs you added and your golden answers, for relevant passages and writes its answer from what it finds. When you change a page, the new version counts as soon as it has been fetched again. Per our privacy policy, your data is not used to train AI models.
Can I add PDFs or other files?
Yes: PDF and Word (DOCX) files as well as TXT, Markdown and CSV files of up to 20 MB each. Kyros takes in the text of the file, and only that text counts toward storage. Scanned PDFs without a text layer are read on plans with text recognition (OCR) and rejected otherwise. Excel, PowerPoint and other formats can’t be added; you can add their key questions as golden answers.
Does Kyros read my whole website automatically?
Not unasked. Kyros can find your website’s pages, from the sitemap or by following links from a start page (up to three clicks deep, at most 2,000 pages per search, only on your domain, respecting robots.txt). You see the pages it found as a list and choose which ones go into the knowledge base. New pages aren’t added automatically later. You can also paste URLs directly, many at once, one per line.
How does the knowledge base stay up to date?
You set one schedule for the whole knowledge base, for example every 7 days, and can adjust it per page. How often Kyros may fetch pages automatically depends on your plan. If the text hasn’t changed, it isn’t processed again. Without that setting, the page stays as it was at the last fetch. You maintain golden answers directly under Q&A in the knowledge base.
What is a golden answer?
A question-and-answer pair you write yourself, for example about prices, deadlines or who handles what. When a visitor’s question matches, the assistant is instructed to use your answer word for word. Golden answers also come out of Chatlogs: use Revise to correct an answer, and the correction is saved as a golden answer.
What happens if the answer isn’t in my content?
The assistant is instructed to say so instead of making something up. That’s an instruction, not a guarantee, which is why every widget notes that answers are AI-generated and may be inaccurate. Check Chatlogs regularly: visitor ratings show which answers didn’t help, and Revise lets you close the gap.
Can I sync files from Nextcloud or SharePoint automatically?
Yes, on plans with external sources. You connect a Nextcloud folder or a document library in SharePoint Online; Kyros takes over new, changed and deleted files at the interval you choose, read-only. Your Nextcloud must be publicly reachable over HTTPS (port 443); SharePoint Server in your own data centre isn’t supported. The chatbot may repeat anything in the connected folder publicly, so only public content belongs there.
Can I use one knowledge base for several chatbots?
Yes. Knowledge bases belong to the workspace and can be assigned to several assistants, for example a website chat and an assistant you call through the REST API. A change to the knowledge base then applies to every assistant it’s assigned to. How many assistants you can create depends on your plan.
Keep reading
Golden answers
What a golden answer is and when it’s worth writing one.
RAG explained
How an assistant puts answers together from your content.
Chat widget
Your knowledge base on your website: colors, logo, position and install guides.
FAQ chatbot
Answer your customers’ common questions from your own pages.
Connect SharePoint
Consent and a read grant on one document library, step by step.
Connect Nextcloud
A separate user, a read-only share and an app password.
Start with your own pages.
Starter plan at €0, permanently, no credit card. Hosted in Germany.