Core concepts

Before you upload a document or ask your first question, it helps to know how the pieces fit together.

Org Space and My Space

When you sign in, you pick an org Space — your shared environment with Knowledge, Controls, History, and System configuration.

Inside that org Space, My Spaces (in the sidebar) are private sub-Spaces you create for a project, team, or topic. Each My Space has its own sources and conversations. There is no separate Controls page per My Space. Controls for the Space you pick at sign-in apply across its My Spaces.

Knowledge

Knowledge is the library of sources you add — uploaded files, pasted text, notes, and optional Open Library books. Spaces processes each source so relevant passages can be retrieved when you ask a question.

Controls

Controls shape how this Space answers. Platform guardrails are set by Empathy.AI — always-on and read-only. Rules are yours to review and enable or disable. You set policy in Controls — not by writing a prompt.

Sources

Sources are the citations attached to grounded answers. Every response that draws on your Knowledge should trace back to the documents it used — so you can verify, not guess.

History

History is where saved conversations live. Pin, rename, delete, export, or share them. Temporary chats are not saved here.

System

System is a read-only view of how your Space is configured: models, pipeline, storage, and ingestion settings. You can review how retrieval is set up. How the Space answers is Controls, not System.

Beyond the basics

Once you know the six ideas, Adaptive can run extra retrieval steps across your Knowledge before answering and can produce downloadable documents. It uses the same Controls as default Chat. See Chat modes and Adaptive mode.