# How knowledge files work

> Give your Chirp files to answer from, like a guide or a price list, and see how it uses them.

Source: https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/knowledge/overview  
Plans: Essentials, Creator, Business, Academy  
Last checked: 2026-10-27

When you're done, you know what knowledge files do and where to manage them.

**Who can do this:** the account owner on any plan, and workspace admins and editors.

Knowledge files are documents your Chirp answers from: a product guide, a price list, a course
workbook, your FAQs. They work like the files you gave a Custom GPT.

![Section 4, Knowledge, of Garden Helper: the drop zone, the knowledge storage bar, two files (a planting calendar and a tomato care guide), the Knowledge mode and Full-text limit boxes, and a line saying each reply sends the full text.](https://mjmtbasmrtksluvlnema.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/help-media/web-optimized/knowledge/overview/SS-KNOW-001-01__knowledge-section__essentials__detail__v01.webp?v=b091d0919e)

## How a Chirp uses them

- **It doesn't retrain the AI model.** When you add a file, its text is read in your browser and kept
  with your Chirp. The original file is stored privately.
- **With each question, the model gets your files' text** along with the question. Usually that's all
  of it while your files are small, and otherwise the passages that best match the question; you can
  change this. See [How a Chirp uses its files](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/knowledge/knowledge-mode).
- **It's told to prefer your files** over what it already knows, to mention the file name when it
  relies on one, and to say so when your files don't cover the question.
- **Files are reference material, not instructions.** The model is told to ignore commands written
  inside a file. Put your rules in the Chirp's instructions: see
  [Write instructions for your Chirp](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/chirps/instructions).

## Where to find them

In the Chirp's editor, section **4. Knowledge**. A new Chirp needs saving first: until then the section
says "Save your Chirp first, then add knowledge files here."

## Good to know

- **Files apply straight away**, for visitors too. You don't need to save or publish.
- **Saved versions don't include files.** Going back to an earlier version, or discarding changes,
  doesn't bring back a file you removed.
- **Visitors can't download your files**, but the Chirp quotes from them, and a determined visitor may
  get it to repeat parts. Don't put anything private in a knowledge file. **Keep instructions
  confidential** (under **6. Capabilities**, on unless you turn it off) also asks the model not to repeat
  your files word for word, but it's a request to the model, not a lock.
- **Files count toward your knowledge storage**, which is for your whole account: see
  [Knowledge storage and your plan's limit](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/knowledge/storage).
- **An AI app can add files too.** If you've connected Claude or ChatGPT to Chirp Builder, it can add
  and remove knowledge files in your own Chirps. It sends the file's text rather than the file itself.
  See [Build and update Chirps with your AI app](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/chirps/build-with-ai-app).

## Next

- [Add knowledge files to a Chirp](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/knowledge/add-files)
- [Which files work, and size limits](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/knowledge/file-types)
- [Check that answers come from your files](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/knowledge/check-answers)