Sources and citations
Where Brain's knowledge comes from, what an answer tells you about it, and how to check a citation.
Every answer from Brain starts from a source: a place where your knowledge lives, like a Slack channel, Notion, HubSpot, a file you uploaded, or a webhook. This page explains how Brain keeps track of where a fact came from, and what you see when your assistant cites it.
The sources Brain can have
| Source | Guide |
|---|---|
| Slack | Connect Slack |
| Notion | Connect Notion |
| HubSpot | Connect HubSpot |
| Webhook | Send data with a webhook |
| Uploaded files | Upload content |
All the files you upload feed one source, called Local Uploads, rather than one source per file. See Connectors overview.
See your sources
Only admins can open Sources, under Knowledge in the sidebar. Members who try are sent back to the home page. Before an admin builds the memory for the first time, the page shows a preview and "Available once your memory is built". See the Quickstart.
Each card shows:
| On the card | What it means |
|---|---|
| Documents | How many pages Brain wrote from this source. Shown under the name when there are any. Until then, the line shows the connector type. |
| Status | The source's current state, shown as text, for example active, paused or revoked. Uploaded files show Uploaded. See Check source status. |
| Memories | How many facts Brain learned from this source |
| Contribution | This source's share of the memories Brain has attributed to sources |
| Manage | Opens the source's settings, where you can reconnect, choose content to import, or remove it. Uploaded has no Manage button. |
If you have no sources yet, the page says No connected sources yet.
When several sources feed the same page, Brain shares the credit between them. Sources that are no longer active stop counting. A chart on the same page shows how each source contributes.
A memory is one fact Brain has learned. Some screens call it a claim. It is the same thing.
How a fact stays tied to its source
When Brain reads a document, it keeps the original content and writes what it learned as pages of its own memory. Each fact stays tied to the source it came from. That is how Brain can tell which source taught it what, and how it can replace an older fact when a newer one contradicts it.
What a citation in an answer points to
When you ask a question, your assistant asks Brain, and Brain returns evidence: excerpts, the facts behind them, and the title and reference of each page they come from. Brain tells your assistant to answer only from that evidence and to cite what it returned.
Three things are worth knowing:
- A citation names a page of Brain's memory. That page is one Brain wrote from your sources. Today the citation is not a link to the original document, and its title comes from the name of Brain's page, so it may not match the original's title.
- Citing is up to your assistant. Brain provides the references. Whether your assistant shows them in the answer, and how, depends on the assistant and the client you use.
- You get excerpts, not whole documents. Brain returns the parts of a page that match your question, from up to three pages by default.
How to check a citation
Because a citation does not link to the original, checking takes one extra step.
- Note the page title and the fact the assistant gave you.
- Open the source app it came from. If you do not know which, ask the assistant which source the fact came from, or look at the source cards under Sources.
- Search that app for the title, or for a distinctive word from the fact.
If you cannot find it, the original may have been renamed, moved or deleted. Brain keeps what it learned. Removing a source stops Brain from reading it, but does not delete what it already learned. See Check source status.
Get more detail
Brain returns only the passages that match your question, from a few pages. If you need more, ask a narrower question, for example one that names the project and the date. You can also ask your assistant to search for a topic or to open a specific page. See Ask questions.
When there is nothing to cite
If Brain finds nothing that answers your question, or nothing you are allowed to see, it says so. It does not say what it withheld. Then you have three options:
- Ask a colleague through Brain. A Brain contact is a colleague an admin has set up in Team so Brain can ask them. If one is set up, your assistant can offer to send them the question. Members follow it under My requests. Admins set contacts up under Brain contacts.
- Ask again with different words. Use names, dates and terms your team uses.
- Add the missing content. If the source was never connected, an admin can connect it or upload the file. Until the memory is first built, Brain cannot answer at all. See Connectors overview.
Checking how a question went
Admins can see how Brain handled each question that asked for an answer under Queries, in the sidebar under Analytics. For every one you see:
- how many claims Brain used,
- the titles of the first three pages it consulted, with a count of any more,
- a confidence label,
- the first gap it found and the first thing it was not allowed to use.
Confidence is a rough label, not a probability. It reflects what Brain found, not how likely the answer is to be right:
| Label | What it means |
|---|---|
| High | Brain found evidence and facts, and recorded no gap |
| Medium | Brain found evidence, but no supporting facts, or it recorded a gap |
| Low | Brain found no usable evidence: nothing matched, or nothing you are allowed to see |
Members do not see this view. Only admins do. Assistants are told not to show confidence, gaps or scores in normal answers unless you ask for search diagnostics. See Review queries.