---
title: Sources and citations
description: What Knowledge can read — workspace files, attachments, Slack, Jira, Gmail and the public web — how each source is kept private and permission-checked, and how citations work.
---

Knowledge only knows what you let it read. Each conversation, and each
[expert](experts.md), has an explicit set of sources.

## Source types

| Source | What it covers | How to add it |
|---|---|---|
| **Workspace files** | PDFs, Word documents, Markdown, text and images uploaded to the workspace. | [Files](../workspace/index.md#files) |
| **Attachments** | Files and images added to one question. | **+ Files** in the composer |
| **Slack** | Channels and threads the connection can see. | [Slack](../integrations/slack.md) |
| **Jira** | Issues, comments and statuses in the connected site. | [Jira](../integrations/jira.md) |
| **Gmail** | Messages in a connected mailbox, private to its owner. | [Gmail](../integrations/gmail.md) |
| **Web** | Public web pages and PDFs, read when needed. | **Web** toggle in the composer |
| **Memory** | Facts and preferences you asked Ysra to keep. | [Memory](memory.md) |

Repository sources for Knowledge are coming; they appear as *Soon* in the
composer.

## Choosing sources

- **In the composer**, toggle Files and Web and pick connected sources.
- **On an expert**, set default sources; conversations with that expert start
  with them.
- **By default**, a conversation uses the expert's sources plus the workspace's
  ready mailboxes.

Knowledge searches company context only when your question needs it. Ask a
general question and it simply answers.

## Privacy and permissions

- **Only ready, connected sources** you own or were given can be searched.
- **Each document keeps its access rules.** A private message stays visible
  only to the people allowed to see it.
- **Mailboxes are owner-private.** One person's connected Gmail isn't searchable
  by others.
- Ysra **does not mirror every permission in your organisation.** It searches
  the specific sources selected for the conversation or expert.

## How citations work

1. Every source Knowledge reads during a conversation gets a **number**.
2. The answer may cite only those numbers.
3. If an answer cites something that wasn't retrieved, it is **rejected** rather
   than shown to you.
4. The **Sources panel** lists each source with provider, excerpt, link and the
   time it was read.

For the web, a search result is only a lead: the page must be fetched and read
before it can be cited. Public PDFs are read as documents.

## Files and attachments

- Uploaded files are parsed and indexed so their content can be searched — see
  [Files](../workspace/index.md#files).
- Images you attach are analysed and bound to the question you asked with them.
- If a file fails to process, retry it from the Files page.

## Sources are data, not instructions

Everything Knowledge reads — a Slack message, an email, a web page — is treated
as information to reason about. Instructions inside a source are never followed.