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What Are Sources?

Sources provide context to your agents - they’re documents, files, and links that help your agent make informed decisions.

The Power of Context

Without sources, agents only know what’s in their instructions. With sources, agents can reference thousands of pages of documentation, policies, examples, and data.

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Why Sources Matter

Domain Knowledge

Upload company policies, SOPs, pricing guides - your agent becomes an expert

Examples

Show your agent past quotes, emails, reports - it learns your style

Live Data

Monitor competitor websites, documentation, news - stay up to date

Verification

Agents cite specific pages and sections - you can verify their reasoning

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Types of Sources

Decisional supports a wide variety of source types:

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Document Sources

Best for: Contracts, invoices, forms, reports, manualsSupported features:
  • Text extraction (native PDF text)
  • OCR (scanned documents and images)
  • Tables and structured data
  • Multi-page documents
  • Bounding box citations
File size: Up to 50MB per fileExample use cases:
  • Upload past quotes so agent can match your formatting
  • Upload pricing catalogs for product lookup
  • Upload contracts for data extraction
  • Upload SOPs for policy compliance

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Web Sources

How it works: Decisional calls your API and uses the response as context.Best for:
  • Live data from internal systems
  • Third-party API data
  • Real-time information
Authentication supported:
  • API keys
  • Bearer tokens
  • OAuth 2.0
Example:
Add API: https://api.example.com/customers
Auth: Bearer token
Agent instruction: "Fetch customer data from API before generating quote"

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Adding Sources to Your Agent

1

Navigate to Sources

In your agent page, click Sources in the left sidebar
2

Choose Source Type

Click Add Source and select:
  • Upload File (PDF, Word, Excel, images, text)
  • Add Link (webpage URL)
  • Connect Integration (Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.)
3

Upload or Configure

For files: Drag and drop or browse to selectFor links: Paste the URL and set refresh frequencyFor integrations: Authorize and select files/folders
4

Name Your Source

Give it a descriptive name (e.g., “Q4 2024 Price List” instead of “pricelist_v3_final.xlsx”)Why: You’ll reference this name in agent instructions
5

Wait for Processing

Decisional indexes your source. This takes:
  • Small PDFs: 10-30 seconds
  • Large documents: 1-3 minutes
  • Web pages: 30-60 seconds
You’ll see a progress indicator.
6

Reference in Instructions

Tell your agent when to use this source:
Reference the "Q4 2024 Price List" to look up product prices.

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How RAG Works

Decisional uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) - a state-of-the-art technique for document understanding.

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The RAG Pipeline

1

Indexing

When you upload a document:
  1. Text extraction: Extract all text from the document
  2. Chunking: Split into semantic chunks (paragraphs, sections)
  3. Embedding: Convert text into vector representations
  4. Indexing: Store in a semantic search index
2

Retrieval

When your agent runs:
  1. Query: Agent formulates a search query based on its task
  2. Search: Find the most relevant chunks from your sources
  3. Ranking: Rank chunks by relevance
  4. Selection: Select top K chunks (typically 5-10)
3

Generation

Agent uses retrieved context:
  1. Context: Relevant chunks are provided to the agent
  2. Reasoning: Agent processes task using context
  3. Citation: Agent notes which sources it used
  4. Output: Agent generates result with citations

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Bounding Box Citations

For PDFs, Decisional provides exact location citations:

Page Number

Which page was referenced

Bounding Box

Exact location on the page (highlighted region)

Quoted Text

The specific text the agent read
Why this matters:
  • Verification: You can check the agent didn’t hallucinate
  • Auditing: Understand exactly what the agent learned
  • Compliance: Prove decision-making is based on real data
Click any citation in the run logs to see the exact PDF location highlighted!

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Optimizing Source Quality

Better sources = better agent performance.

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Document Preparation Tips

Best: Native PDF with selectable textOkay: Scanned PDF (Decisional will OCR it, but slower and less accurate)How to check: Try to select text in the PDF. If you can, it’s text-based.If you only have scans:
  • Use high-resolution scans (300 DPI minimum)
  • Ensure good contrast
  • Avoid skewed or rotated pages
Remove:
  • Cover pages with no useful info
  • Blank pages
  • Unrelated appendices
  • Repetitive boilerplate
Why: Reduces noise, improves retrieval accuracy, speeds up processingHow: Edit the PDF before uploading or use page range selection (coming soon)
Good structure:
  • Clear headers and sections
  • Numbered lists
  • Tables with headers
  • Consistent fonts
Avoid:
  • Text in images (unless necessary)
  • Watermarks that obscure text
  • Heavy redactions
  • Multi-column layouts (if possible)
Instead of: One 500-page policy manualDo this: Separate PDFs for each policy (Pricing, Returns, Shipping, etc.)Why:
  • Faster processing
  • More accurate retrieval (agent knows which document to search)
  • Easier to update individual policies
Exception: If the document is highly interconnected, keep it as one file.
Bad:
  • document.pdf
  • final_FINAL_v3.pdf
  • IMG_2024.png
Good:
  • Acme_Corp_Pricing_Policy_2024_Q4.pdf
  • Invoice_Template_Standard.pdf
  • Product_Catalog_Hardware.pdf
Why: Helps you and the agent identify the right source

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Source Organization Strategies

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By Workflow Type

Sources to upload:
  1. Price Lists (Excel or PDF)
    • Current pricing
    • Discount tiers
    • Product catalog
  2. Quote Templates (PDF)
    • Past successful quotes
    • Shows formatting, tone, structure
  3. Pricing Policy (PDF or Word)
    • Rules for discounts
    • Approval thresholds
    • Special terms
Agent instruction:
Reference "2025 Price List" for product prices.
Use "Quote Template" as formatting guide.
Follow rules in "Pricing Policy" for discounts.

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Advanced RAG Techniques

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Multi-Document Reasoning

Agents can combine information from multiple sources: Example workflow: 
Agent instruction:
1. Look up product specs from "Product Catalog"
2. Find pricing from "Price List"
3. Check availability from "Inventory Report"
4. Verify compliance with "Export Regulations"
5. Generate quote combining all information
The agent will retrieve relevant sections from each document and synthesize them.

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Temporal Sources

For time-sensitive information, set refresh schedules:
1

Add Web Link

Add a URL (e.g., competitor pricing page)
2

Set Refresh Schedule

Choose frequency:
  • Hourly (for real-time monitoring)
  • Daily (for regular updates)
  • Weekly (for less frequent changes)
  • Manual (refresh when needed)
3

Enable Change Detection

Get notified when the page changes
Use case: 
Monitor https://competitor.com/pricing daily.
If their price drops below ours, send Slack notification.

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Versioned Sources

Keep multiple versions of the same source: Example:
  • Price List 2024 Q1.xlsx
  • Price List 2024 Q2.xlsx
  • Price List 2024 Q3.xlsx
  • Price List 2024 Q4.xlsx (current)
Agent instruction: 
Use "Price List 2024 Q4" for new quotes.
Reference historical price lists to show price changes over time.

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Integration-Based Sources

Connect live data sources through integrations:
Setup:
  1. Connect Google Drive integration
  2. In Sources, click Add from Google Drive
  3. Select files or folders
  4. Choose sync frequency
Features:
  • Two-way sync (changes in Drive appear in Decisional)
  • Folder monitoring (new files auto-added)
  • Permissions respected (only files you have access to)
Use case:
Monitor "Sales Templates" folder in Google Drive.
When new template is added, agent learns the new format.

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Managing Sources

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Source Library

View all sources across your workspace:
1

Navigate to Sources

Click Sources in the main sidebar (not agent-specific)
2

View All Sources

See all uploaded documents, links, and connected files
3

Organize

  • Search by name
  • Filter by type (PDF, link, integration)
  • Sort by upload date, size, usage
4

Reuse

Attach existing sources to new agents (no need to re-upload)

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Source Actions

For files: Upload new version (overwrites old one)For links: Click Refresh Now to re-fetchFor integrations: Sync automatically based on scheduleAll agents using this source immediately see the update.
Warning: Deleting a source affects all agents using it.To delete:
  1. Click the source
  2. Click Delete
  3. Confirm
What happens: Agents can no longer reference this source. Existing citations remain in run history.
See which agents use a source:
  1. Click the source
  2. View Used By tab
  3. See list of agents
Why useful: Before deleting, check if any agents depend on it.
Retrieve the original file you uploaded:
  1. Click the source
  2. Click Download Original
Why useful: Recover original if you’ve lost it.

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Troubleshooting Sources

Common causes:
  1. File too large (limit: 50MB for PDFs, 20MB for images)
    • Solution: Split into smaller files or compress
  2. Unsupported format
    • Solution: Convert to supported format (e.g., DOC → DOCX)
  3. Corrupted file
    • Solution: Re-export or re-save the file
  4. Network timeout
    • Solution: Try again with better internet connection
Debugging steps:
  1. Check source is attached to agent
    • Go to Sources tab in agent page
    • Verify source is listed
  2. Reference source in instructions
    • Explicitly mention: “Use [source name] to find…”
  3. Verify source is indexed
    • Check for “Indexed” status (not “Processing”)
  4. Check source quality
    • Is text extractable? Try selecting text in PDF
    • Is content relevant to agent’s task?
  5. Review run logs
    • See if agent attempted to search source
    • Check retrieval results
Problem: Agent cites irrelevant sectionsSolutions:
  1. Improve source quality
    • Remove irrelevant pages
    • Split into focused documents
  2. Be more specific in instructions
    • Instead of: “Look up pricing”
    • Do: “Find product X in ‘Price List’ and return the ‘Unit Price’ column value”
  3. Add examples
    • Show agent what good results look like
  4. Check for conflicting sources
    • Multiple sources with similar content can confuse agent
    • Remove duplicates or be explicit which to use
Problem: Agent can’t read scanned PDFs or imagesSolutions:
  1. Use higher resolution (300 DPI minimum)
  2. Improve contrast (black text on white background is best)
  3. Straighten pages (no skew or rotation)
  4. Avoid handwriting (OCR works best on printed text)
  5. Try native PDF (if possible, use text-based PDF instead of scan)
If still failing, contact support - we can help with challenging OCR cases.

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Best Practices

Quality over quantity: 10 highly relevant documents > 100 generic documents
Name descriptively: “2025_Q1_Pricing” > “doc_v3_final.pdf”
Keep sources updated: Set refresh schedules or upload new versions regularly
Reference explicitly: Tell agents which sources to use and when
Verify citations: Check agent’s cited sources in run logs to ensure accuracy
Organize logically: Group related sources, delete outdated ones
Test with edge cases: Upload challenging documents to see how well RAG handles them

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Next Steps

Advanced RAG

Deep dive into retrieval techniques and optimization

Working with Agents

Learn how to write instructions that use sources effectively

Integrations Guide

Connect Google Drive, OneDrive, and other source providers

Data Processing

Advanced patterns for document workflows