Creating Knowledge Agents

Understanding Knowledge Agents

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Every workspace includes a default Knowledge Agent called "Guru" that searches across all your sources. But as your knowledge base grows, different teams often need different things—Support needs help center articles, Sales needs battlecards, and Engineering needs technical docs.
Knowledge Agents solve this by letting you create specialized assistants for different teams and use cases. Each agent connects to specific sources and can be customized to answer questions in the right tone and format for its audience.

When you need a Knowledge Agent

Create a Knowledge Agent when:

Search results are cluttered with content irrelevant to specific teams
Different teams need answers from different sources
You want an AI that understands context and handles follow-up questions naturally
You need tailored outputs like response templates or meeting prep lists
Repetitive Slack questions could be answered automatically

How Knowledge Agents work differently in search vs. chat

Knowledge Agents power two distinct experiences:

In search: Agents surface quick, relevant answers from your connected sources—perfect when you know what you're looking for.

In chat: Agents have natural conversations, remembering context from earlier in the discussion and providing thoughtful follow-ups—ideal for exploring topics or getting guidance.

Creating your first Knowledge Agent

Build the basics

Go to Manage > Knowledge Agents
Select Add Knowledge Agent
Give it a name that clearly indicates its purpose (like "Support Agent" or "Sales Enablement")
Upload an image to make it visually distinct
Write a description that explains:
- What the agent helps with
- What types of questions it answers
- When users should choose this agent over others

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Tip
Think of the description as your agent's "About Me"—users will read it when deciding which agent to use, so make it clear and specific.

Connect your sources

Choose which knowledge sources this agent will search:

Option 1: All Sources

The agent automatically includes every source in your workspace, including future sources you add later. This is the simplest approach for agents that need broad coverage.

Option 2: Specific Sources

Select Next: Select Sources
Choose only the relevant Collections, Sources, or uploaded files. To connect a private Slack channel, you must be a Slack Admin.

When you connect Collections or External Sources to your Knowledge Agent, you can apply filters to include only the most relevant content. This helps your agent focus on exactly the right information without pulling in outdated or irrelevant data.

Available filter types:

Date Filters narrow content by creation or modification dates. You can filter by:

Created Date – When the content was originally created
Modified Date – When the content was last updated

Set filters using:

Relative dates like "Last 30 days" or "Past 3 months" (automatically updates as time passes)
Absolute dates like "After January 1, 2025" or "Between March 1-31, 2025" (fixed date range)
Both types together for precise control

Collection Folder Filters let you select specific folders within a Collection. When you select a parent folder, all its subfolders are automatically included. You can mix and match folders freely—the agent will search content from any selected folder.

Source Attribute Filters (coming soon) will allow you to filter External Sources like Salesforce, Jira, or Google Drive by record type and field values. For example, you could limit a Salesforce source to only "Open Opportunities" or filter Jira to show only issues from specific projects.

To add filters when connecting a source:

Select a Collection or External Source
Click Add Filter next to the source
Choose your filter type (Date, Collection Folder, or Source Attribute when available)
Configure your filter settings
Apply multiple filters if needed—they combine with AND logic

To update filters on existing sources:

Go to your Knowledge Agent settings
Open the Sources tab
Select the source you want to filter
Click Edit Filters
Add, modify, or remove filters as needed
Select Save

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Tip
Use relative date filters like "Last 90 days" for content that needs to stay current automatically, and use absolute date filters for historical periods or one-time date ranges.

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Note
Filter options respect user permissions. You'll only see folders and attributes you have access to, and filters won't show users content they don't have permission to view.

Set who can use it

Add Viewers—the users or Groups who can use this agent
Assign any relevant custom roles
Assign a Knowledge Agent Owner (someone who can manage settings)
Select Create Agent

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Note
Users need access to BOTH the agent AND its connected sources to see results. Admins and owners don't automatically have source access - you still need to grant permissions.

Making your agent smarter

Enable Research Mode for comprehensive answers

Research Mode transforms your Knowledge Agent into a research assistant that combines internal knowledge with real-time web search to give thorough, well-cited answers.

Turn on Research Mode:

Go to Manage > Knowledge Agents and select your agent
Open the Behavior tab
Toggle Perform research
Select Save

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Tip
Enable Research Mode for agents supporting strategic work, complex questions, or topics that need current external information. Learn more about research mode here.

Add web search capability

You can let agents search the entire web or limit them to trusted domains. When you add web search functionality to a Knowledge Agent you can not use web searches to train in the AI Agent Center.

Configure web search:

In your Knowledge Agent, go to Connected Sources
Scroll down and toggle on Web Search
Choose your scope:
- Search the entire web for maximum coverage
- Search specific domains for controlled, trusted results

To restrict to specific domains:

Select Add Domain
Enter just the domain (e.g., community.getguru.com)—no paths or parameters
Add instructions explaining what kind of information this domain contains
Select Save

The agent will now search any site indexed by Google. If you need to search a public site that's not indexed, contact [email protected].

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Tip
Domain restrictions work great for industry-specific resources, official documentation sites, or your company's public knowledge bases.

Customize how the agent responds

Create a custom prompt:

The prompt controls your agent's tone, format, and response style in both search and chat.

Open your agent and go to the Behavior tab
Customize how the agent should answer questions
Test your changes
Select Save (or revert to default anytime)

Customize the "no answer found" message:

When the agent can't find an answer, show users something helpful instead of a generic error.

In the Prompt tab, select Edit
Update the No answer found message using markdown
Add helpful links, next steps, or who to contact
Select Test to preview it
Select Save when ready

Deploying your Knowledge Agent

Once your agent is configured, you can deploy it across different parts of your workspace.

In Slack channels

Make your agent available in Slack for automatic question answering:

Open your agent and go to the Slack tab
Enable the agent in Slack
Assign it to specific channels. Each Slack channel can only have one Knowledge Agent assigned, but you can assign the same agent to multiple channels.
Toggle Limit responses to sources shared with All Members if the channel includes people who shouldn't see sensitive content

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Tip
Different answers in Slack vs. Guru? This usually means "Limit responses to sources shared with All Members" is enabled. Check your agent's Slack settings in Manage > Knowledge Agents.

On Guru Pages

Assign an agent to power search and chat on specific Pages:

Open the Page and select Edit
Set your Knowledge Agent as the default

In the browser extension

Make an agent appear automatically when visiting specific websites:

Open your agent settings
Go to Website > Add a Website
Enter the display name and URL
Select Add Website

Now when users open the Guru Extension on that site, they'll see this agent by default.

Via API

For programmatic access:

Open your Knowledge Agent
Copy the search and answer endpoints
Use them with Guru's API

In your AI Tool Stack via Guru's MCP Server

Learn more here.

Managing your default Knowledge Agent

Every workspace starts with a default agent called "Guru" that searches all sources. You don't need to keep it as-is—customize it to match your needs.

Rename and rebrand it

Go to Manage > Knowledge Agents
Select the default "Guru" agent
Change the name, description, and image
Select Save

Control its sources

By default, the agent searches everything. To change this:

Open the default agent
Go to the Sources tab
Switch from All Sources to Specific Sources
Choose which sources it should search
Select Save

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Tip
Many teams customize their default agent to be a "General Knowledge" agent that searches commonly used sources, then create specialized agents for specific teams.

Managing permissions and roles

Who can do what

Viewers can:

Use the agent in search, chat, and Slack
See the agent in their agent picker
View their own chat history

Knowledge Agent Owners and Admins can:

Edit prompts and settings
Manage permissions
Configure Slack and Page integrations
Enable or disable Research Mode
Delete the agent
Add and configure source filters

Adjusting access

Open your agent and go to Permissions
Add or remove Viewers (individuals or Groups)
Assign or change the Knowledge Agent Owner
Promote users to relevant custom roles if needed

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Knowledge Agents remember our conversation?

Yes, in chat mode. The agent maintains context throughout a conversation and can reference what you discussed earlier to provide better follow-up answers.

Why should I write a good description?

When you have multiple agents, users see a list with names and descriptions. Clear descriptions help them pick the right agent for their question—especially important as you add more agents.

Can one user access multiple Knowledge Agents?

Yes. Users see all agents they have access to and can switch between them. They'll only see results from sources they're permissioned for.

What happens if someone has agent access but not source access?

They won't see results from sources they can't access. The agent automatically filters based on the user's permissions.

Do I need to create agents for every team?

Not necessarily. Start with your default agent and create specialized agents only when teams have distinct needs or search results become too broad.

How does Guru's web search functionality work?

The web search feature operates using real-time federated queries rather than indexing or storing external content. When a Knowledge Agent uses web search, the system reaches out to publicly available web pages at the moment of the request and returns results dynamically.

Who can enable web search?

On Guru's end, only users with the appropriate permissions - specifically those authorized to configure Knowledge Agents - are able to enable the web search capability. Additionally, the feature is activated at the individual Knowledge Agent level, ensuring granular control and preventing unintended access or activation across the entire workspace.

Can I filter sources to show only recent content?

Yes. When connecting Collections or External Sources, you can apply Date Filters to include only content created or modified within specific timeframes. You can use relative dates (like "Last 30 days") or absolute dates (like "After January 1, 2025").

What happens if I lose access to a folder I've filtered?

If you lose access to a previously selected folder, the filter remains configured but becomes inactive. You won't see content from that folder, and it won't appear in your filter settings until access is restored.

Do filters affect what users see?

Yes. Filters work alongside permissions. Users will only see results from sources they have access to AND that match the filter criteria. Filters don't override permissions—they add an additional layer of content control.

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