# Knowledge overview

> What the agent knows and how it uses it. The five source types and when to reach for each.

Source: https://www.hey.support/docs/knowledge/overview

---

Knowledge is the single most important part of a good agent. An agent with the right knowledge answers confidently and stays on topic. An agent missing a page guesses or says it does not know.

You manage it all from **Knowledge** in the top navigation. Select **Add** to open the panel, then pick a source type.

## The five source types

<Cards>
  <Card title="Website" href="/docs/knowledge/website" description="Crawl a site, read a sitemap, or add a single page." />

  <Card title="Files" href="/docs/knowledge/files" description="Upload PDF, DOC, TXT, MD, JSON, or CSV." />

  <Card title="Text" href="/docs/knowledge/text" description="Paste notes, policies, or product details as a named source." />

  <Card title="Quick answer" href="/docs/knowledge/quick-answers-and-links" description="An exact answer the agent uses word for word." />

  <Card title="Quick link" href="/docs/knowledge/quick-answers-and-links" description="A labelled link the agent offers when it fits." />
</Cards>

## Trained versus direct

The five types split into two groups, and the difference matters.

**Website, Files, and Text are trained sources.** We break the content into small chunks and store them. When a visitor asks something, the agent searches those chunks and pulls the most relevant pieces into its answer. This is how it handles questions you never wrote out by hand. The tradeoff is that the agent paraphrases, so the exact wording of a reply can vary.

**Quick answers and Quick links are direct sources.** They are handed to the agent as-is. A quick answer is used verbatim when a question matches it. A quick link is offered as a clickable link. Reach for these when the wording has to be exact, like a refund policy, a price, or opening hours.

<Callout title="A good default mix">
  Train the agent on your site and key files so it can handle the long tail of questions. Then add a handful of quick answers for the facts you cannot afford to have paraphrased.
</Callout>

## Seeing what is indexed

The Knowledge page lists every source with its type and a chunk count. The stat strip at the top shows how many sources and chunks you have against your plan's limit, plus an **Unanswered** tile — the questions visitors asked that the agent could not answer. That tile is the way into [Unanswered questions](/docs/knowledge/unanswered-questions), and it is the most useful number on the page.

You can open any source to view the exact chunks it produced, or view the compiled document.

## Keeping it fresh

Website sources can refresh themselves on a schedule so the agent stays current as your site changes. Files, text, and quick answers stay exactly as you left them until you edit them. See [Auto-update](/docs/knowledge/auto-update).