Retrieval Configuration
Configure how your agent searches its sources to find the best answers for customer questions
Retrieval Configuration#
Retrieval Configuration lets you control how your agent searches and uses its sources when answering questions. You can adjust how much content is retrieved, which categories are prioritized, and how strict the matching should be.
How Retrieval Works#
When a customer asks a question, your agent goes through these steps:
- Search: The agent searches your sources for content related to the question
- Retrieve: Relevant content is pulled from your sources
- Rank: Retrieved content is ranked by relevance to the question
- Generate: The agent uses the top-ranked content to compose its answer
Retrieval Configuration lets you tune these steps to match your needs.
Accessing Settings#
- Go to your agent's dashboard
- Navigate to Settings then Retrieval Config
- Adjust the settings as needed
- Save your changes
Presets#
For most users, presets are the easiest way to configure retrieval. Choose a preset that matches your use case:
| Preset | Best For | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Balanced | Most use cases (default) | Equal weight across all content types, moderate matching strictness |
| Precise | When accuracy matters most | Stricter matching -- fewer results, but each one is highly relevant |
| Broad | When coverage matters most | Looser matching -- more results, ensuring nothing relevant is missed |
| FAQ-focused | Q&A-heavy source libraries | Prioritizes Q&A pairs over other content types |
Select a preset and it configures all the detailed settings for you. You can further customize any setting after applying a preset.
Configuration Options#
Content Limits#
Control how much content your agent retrieves for each question. You can set limits per content category:
| Category | What It Includes | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Documents | Files, text, and website content | 5 chunks |
| Q&A | Question-answer pairs | 3 chunks |
| Communication Style | Learned style from imported conversations | 2 chunks |
| Conversation Context | Recent conversation history | 3 chunks |
When to increase limits:
- Your agent misses relevant information
- Questions often span multiple topics
- You have a large source library
When to decrease limits:
- Responses include irrelevant information
- Your agent mixes up topics from different sources
- Responses are too long or unfocused
Category Priority#
Adjust which content categories your agent prioritizes when answering questions. For example:
- Prioritize Q&A: If you have carefully curated Q&A pairs and want them to take precedence over general documents
- Prioritize Documents: If your uploaded files and website content are the primary knowledge source
- Equal weight: Let the system decide based on relevance alone
Higher priority means content from that category is more likely to be included in the agent's answer.
Similarity Threshold#
The similarity threshold controls how closely content must match a question to be retrieved:
- Higher threshold: Only very relevant content is retrieved. This produces fewer but more precise results. Use this when your agent is pulling in unrelated content.
- Lower threshold: Content that is somewhat related is also included. This produces more results with broader coverage. Use this when your agent says "I don't know" too often.
Start with the default and adjust based on how your agent performs in testing.
When to Adjust Settings#
Your agent includes irrelevant content in answers#
- Raise the similarity threshold
- Reduce content limits
- Try the Precise preset
Your agent says "I don't know" too often#
- Lower the similarity threshold
- Increase content limits
- Try the Broad preset
Your agent ignores Q&A pairs in favor of general docs#
- Increase Q&A priority
- Try the FAQ-focused preset
Your agent's answers are too long or unfocused#
- Reduce content limits across categories
- Raise the similarity threshold
Best Practices#
- Start with the Balanced preset: Only adjust settings if you notice specific issues
- Test after changes: Verify improvements with sample questions before and after
- Keep track of changes: Note what you modified so you can revert if needed
- Use presets to reset: If your custom settings are not working, go back to a preset and start over
- Adjust one thing at a time: Change a single setting, test, then decide if more adjustments are needed
Next Steps#
- Sources Overview -- All source types at a glance
- Q&A Sources -- Create high-priority Q&A pairs
- Training Your Agent -- Best practices for training