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The knowledge base is the system that makes your assistants smart about your specific business. Instead of relying only on general AI knowledge, your assistants can search through your uploaded documents to find accurate, relevant information before responding.

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How It Works

IllumiChat uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to connect your documents to your assistants:
1

Upload your documents

Add files to a project. Supported formats include PDF, Word, text, and Markdown.
2

Automatic processing

IllumiChat extracts the text from your documents and splits it into smaller, meaningful chunks.
3

Embedding and indexing

Each chunk is converted into a vector embedding — a numerical representation that captures the meaning of the text. These are stored in a vector database for fast retrieval.
4

User asks a question

When someone sends a message to your assistant, IllumiChat searches the vector database for document chunks relevant to the question.
5

Context-aware response

The assistant receives the relevant chunks as context alongside the user’s question, then generates an accurate answer grounded in your actual documents.

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Supported File Types

FormatExtension
PDF.pdf
Microsoft Word.docx
Plain Text.txt
Markdown.md

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Uploading Documents

1

Create or open a project

Navigate to Projects in the sidebar and create a new project or open an existing one.
2

Upload your files

Click the upload button and select files from your computer.
3

Monitor processing

Each document shows a processing status so you know when it is ready.
4

Connect to an assistant

Go to your assistant’s settings and link the project. The assistant can now search these documents.

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Processing Status

StatusMeaning
PendingThe document is queued for processing
ProcessingText extraction and indexing are in progress
CompletedThe document is fully indexed and available to assistants
FailedSomething went wrong during processing (try re-uploading)
Processing time depends on document size and complexity. Most documents complete within a few minutes.

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Best Practices

Documents that cover one topic thoroughly work better than large documents covering many topics. This helps the retrieval system find the most relevant chunks.
Well-structured documents with clear headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs produce better search results.
Keep your knowledge base current by replacing outdated documents. Stale information leads to inaccurate answers.
After uploading documents, test your assistant with the kinds of questions your users will actually ask.
Group related documents into the same project. Keep product docs in one project, HR policies in another, and sales materials in a third.
For the best support bot experience, upload your existing FAQs, help center articles, and troubleshooting guides. These question-and-answer formatted documents work especially well with RAG retrieval.