Knowledge Scopes
Scopes let you divide a single chatbot's knowledge base into separate partitions, each with its own access rules, behavior, and budget.
Knowledge Scopes are available on Business and Enterprise plans.
What Are Scopes?
A scope is a named partition of your knowledge base. Each scope maps to its own vector namespace, so documents in one scope are completely separate from another.
Common use cases:
- Multi-product chatbot — One scope per product line, each with its own documentation
- Internal vs public — A public scope for customers, a restricted scope for employees
- Department-specific — Marketing, Engineering, and Sales each get their own scope with tailored behavior
Creating Scopes
- Open your chatbot from the Dashboard
- Go to the "Knowledge Scopes" tab
- Click "Add Scope"
- Enter a label (e.g., "Product A Documentation")
- A namespace ID is auto-generated from the label — you can edit it before saving
- Optionally add a description (shown as a tooltip in the chat widget)
- Click "Save"
The namespace ID cannot be changed after creation. Choose a meaningful, permanent name.
How End Users See Scopes
When your chatbot has two or more scopes, end users see a dropdown above the chat input to select which scope to query.
- The dropdown shows each scope's label
- Hovering shows the scope description (if provided)
- The selected scope is highlighted with a checkmark
- Users cannot switch scopes mid-conversation — they need to start a new chat
If your chatbot has only one scope, the dropdown is hidden.
Assigning Documents to Scopes
When you upload documents to your knowledge base, you assign them to a scope. Documents in one scope are only searchable when that scope is selected.
The Knowledge Bases page in the dashboard groups documents by scope so you can see what content belongs where.
Access Control
Each scope can have its own authentication requirements, independent of the chatbot's global settings.
Access Tiers
| Tier | Who Can Access |
|---|---|
| Public (default) | Anyone — no sign-in required |
| Login required | Any signed-in user |
| Restricted | Only specific emails or domains |
Setting Up Access
- Open a scope's settings
- Toggle "Require sign-in" to require authentication
- To further restrict, toggle "Restrict to specific users"
- Add individual email addresses or entire domains (e.g.,
acme.com)
Users who don't meet the access requirements won't see the scope in the dropdown at all. If they somehow access it directly, they receive an error message.
Behavior Overrides
Each scope can override the chatbot's default behavior. Leave any field empty to use the chatbot's defaults.
| Override | Description |
|---|---|
| System Prompt | Scope-specific instructions for the AI |
| Persona | A different personality or expertise area |
| Response Length | Concise, Balanced, or Detailed |
| Welcome Message | Custom first message when the scope is selected |
This lets you create different "personalities" from the same chatbot. For example, a technical support scope with detailed responses and a sales scope with concise answers.
MCP Server Filtering
If your chatbot has MCP integrations (Jira, Salesforce, PostgreSQL, etc.), you can control which servers are available per scope.
- By default, all MCP servers are available in every scope
- Check specific servers to limit a scope to only those integrations
- Useful for keeping integrations relevant — e.g., only the Salesforce connector in the "Sales" scope
Cost Limits
Set a budget cap on individual scopes to control spending.
- Toggle "Enable cost limit" on a scope
- Set the amount (in USD)
- Choose the reset period — Monthly or Weekly
What Happens at the Limit
| Usage | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Below 80% | Normal operation |
| 80% – 99% | Warning indicator shown |
| 100%+ | Scope is blocked — users see "This knowledge scope has reached its usage limit for this period" |
The budget resets automatically at the start of each period.
Managing Scopes
Editing a Scope
Update any scope setting (label, description, access, overrides, cost limit) at any time. Changes take effect immediately.
Deleting a Scope
Deleting a scope removes:
- The scope configuration
- All documents in that scope's namespace
- Associated vector embeddings
Deleting a scope is permanent and cannot be undone. All documents in the scope will be lost.
Example Setup
Scenario: A company chatbot with public docs and an internal knowledge base.
| Setting | Public Scope | Internal Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Label | Documentation | Internal Wiki |
| Access | Public | Restricted to @company.com |
| Persona | Friendly support agent | Technical expert |
| Response Length | Balanced | Detailed |
| Cost Limit | $100/month | $200/month |
| MCP Servers | — | Jira, Confluence |
- External users see only "Documentation" in the dropdown
- Employees with
@company.comemails see both scopes - Each scope has its own personality and budget