Knowledge Base vs Direct Prompt

When setting up your AI chatbot, you need to choose a Knowledge Source — this determines how your bot stores and retrieves information. There are two options: Direct Prompt and Knowledge Base. This article helps you understand the difference and choose the right one.

Direct Prompt

With Direct Prompt, you paste all your business information directly into a text field. The AI reads the entire prompt for every conversation, so it always has full context.

• Character limit: 250,000 characters
• Best for: small to medium knowledge bases (business info, FAQs, service descriptions)
• Pros: simple setup, fast responses, AI has complete context for every answer
• Cons: limited space, all info must fit in one text block

Use Direct Prompt when your bot needs to know a manageable amount of information — your services, prices, hours, policies, and common FAQs.

Knowledge Base

With Knowledge Base, you upload files (PDF, TXT, DOCX) or add website URLs. The AI searches through your documents and pulls only the relevant sections to answer each question.

• Character limit: 500,000 characters
• Best for: large knowledge bases (product catalogs, documentation, extensive FAQs)
• Pros: handles much more information, can import existing documents and web pages
• Cons: slightly slower, AI may occasionally miss context if information is spread across documents

Use Knowledge Base when you have extensive documentation, product catalogs, or want to import content directly from your website.

Which Should You Choose?

For most small businesses just getting started, Direct Prompt is the better choice. It’s simpler to set up, gives the AI full context, and works great for typical business information.

Switch to Knowledge Base when your information grows beyond what fits comfortably in the Direct Prompt, or when you want to import existing documents without rewriting them.

You can change your knowledge source at any time without losing your other settings.