Overview
The Agent-first retrieval system provides a unified way to configure how agents retrieve and use knowledge. All retrieval behavior is controlled through theknowledge parameter.
Quick Start
Want Gemini, Cohere, or a local Ollama model instead of OpenAI? See Knowledge → Use a non-OpenAI embedder.
Knowledge Configuration
Full Configuration Options
Using Dict Configuration
Agent Methods
agent.chat() - Conversational Interface
The default method for conversation with automatic retrieval.
agent.query() - Structured Answer with Citations
Returns a structured result with answer, citations, and metadata.
agent.retrieve() - Retrieval Only (No LLM)
Returns context without LLM generation. Useful for conditional retrieval workflows.
Multi-Agent with Shared Knowledge
Multiple agents can share the same knowledge base:Advanced: Reranking
For better retrieval quality with large knowledge bases:Handling Retrieval Failures
A failed vector-store call returns emptychunks with retrieval_failed=True and an error message on the RetrievalResult — it does not raise. Check the flag before trusting an empty result so a broken store never looks like a genuine no-match. See Detect Retrieval Failures for the full pattern.
Next Steps
- CLI Retrieval Commands - Use retrieval from the command line
- Knowledge Concepts - Learn about knowledge bases
- Memory - Combine with agent memory

