Creating Knowledge Agents

Knowledge Agents power both search results and natural chat conversations throughout Guru, providing contextual responses that feel like talking to a knowledgeable teammate. This guide will help you create, configure, and deploy Knowledge Agents tailored to your team's specific needs.

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Access Required

Admin, Creator, or relevant custom role to create Knowledge Agents.

Knowledge Agent Owner or relevant custom role to manage an agent.

Connected Sources or Guru Cards already set up.

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New to Knowledge Agents?
Start with What are Knowledge Agents? to understand what they do and why they matter before diving into setup.

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.
Optionally add filters to focus on specific content. These filters differ based on the source type but include filtering by date (ie. last 90 days of cases), folder (ie. only in the Engineering folder), or custom object like tags.

Multiple filters combine with AND logic. Filter options respect user permissions - users won't see content they don't have access to.

Option 3: Web Search

Add web search to let your agent search the entire web or specific trusted domains. Note that agents with web search enabled cannot use web searches for training in the AI Agent Center.

In your Knowledge Agent, go to Connected Sources
Toggle on Web Search
Choose your scope:
- Search the entire web for maximum coverage
- Search specific domains by selecting Add Domain and entering just the domain (e.g., community.getguru.com) - no paths or parameters

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

Learn more about connecting and managing sources →

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.

Configuring your Knowledge Agent

Once you've created your agent, configure its capabilities and behavior.

Set up automated verification

Keep your knowledge base current without manual review cycles. Knowledge Agents can automatically verify and unverify content based on usage patterns and feedback signals. Auto-Verify is on by default for all agents, while Auto-Unverify is off by default but can be enabled in the Quality tab.

Learn more about automated verification →

Customize how the agent responds

Control your agent's tone, format, and response style:

Open your agent and go to the Behavior tab
Customize the prompt to control how the agent answers questions
Update the "no answer found" message using markdown to include helpful links, next steps, or who to contact
Test your changes
Select Save (or revert to default anytime)

Enable Research Mode

Transform your agent into a research assistant that combines internal knowledge with real-time web search for comprehensive, well-cited answers.

Go to the Behavior tab
Toggle on Perform research
Select Save

Research Mode is ideal for agents supporting strategic work, complex questions, or topics that need current external information.

Learn more about Research Mode →

Deploying your Knowledge Agent

Once your agent is configured, deploy it where your team works.

In Slack channels

Open your agent and go to the Slack tab
Enable the agent in Slack
Assign it to specific channels. Each channel can only have one Knowledge Agent, but the same agent can be in multiple channels.
Toggle Limit responses to sources shared with All Members if needed for sensitive content

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Tip
Different answers in Slack vs. Guru? Check if "Limit responses to sources shared with All Members" is enabled in your agent's Slack settings.

On Guru Pages

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

In the browser extension

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

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

In your AI Tool Stack via MCP

Connect Knowledge Agents to external AI tools like Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

Learn more about Guru's MCP Server

Managing your default Knowledge Agent

Every workspace starts with a default agent called "Guru" that searches all sources. Customize it to match your needs:

Go to Manage > Knowledge Agents
Select the default "Guru" agent
Change the name, description, and image
Adjust which sources it searches (all sources or specific sources)
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.

Frequently asked questions

Can Knowledge Agents remember our conversation?
Yes, in chat mode. The agent maintains context throughout a conversation and can reference what you discussed earlier.

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.

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 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 when 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.

I'm getting an error that says "You are not a Slack user in this workspace" when I try to assign a Knowledge Agent to Slack. What does this mean?

This error indicates that Guru could not associate your Guru user with a Slack user, which is required to connect a Knowledge Agent to Slack. Double check that the email that you use to sign into Guru matches the email you use to sign into Slack. If they do not, follow these instructions to link your Slack and Guru users.

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