Knowledge document template

Write Anam knowledge documents as self-contained sections, each carrying the scope, source, and exceptions a retrieved passage needs to stand alone.

Search returns passages from your document rather than the document as a whole. Any passage may be used without its surrounding context, so include the details needed to interpret each one.

That single constraint shapes the template below: write each section so it makes sense on its own, and repeat the small amount of context that changes how a fact should be read.

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Why not put the details at the top

It is tempting to open a document with a block of Applies to, Effective from, and Source lines and consider the whole file labeled. However, a question about a rule later in the document may retrieve a passage that does not include those lines.

Do not rely on a filename, document property, or folder name to supply context for every passage.

Scope written inside a document is there to be read, not enforced. It does not restrict who can retrieve the document. Set the persona’s knowledge scope by choosing which folders its tools search.

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The template

Replace the placeholders, drop the sections that do not apply, and include only what your source supports.

# [Topic] — [audience, region, product or version]

## What this covers

[This document covers X for Y. It does not cover Z.]
[Source: original title, version, section. Effective from date.]

## [First fact or rule]

[State the fact with its subject named in full: which plan, region, product
or version it applies to. Keep units, conditions and exclusions in the same
paragraph, or in the same table row.]

[Source: original title, version, section. Effective from date.]

## [Eligibility or decision criteria]

[What must be known before this rule applies, and what the source says to do
in each case. Name the subject again — do not write "as described above".]

[Source: original title, version, section.]

## [Procedure]

[Prerequisites, ordered steps and completion checks, as documented. Name the
product and version the procedure applies to.]

[Source: original title, version, section.]

Two habits matter more than the exact headings:

• Name the subject in every section. “The Business plan includes priority support” survives retrieval; “This includes priority support” does not.
• Keep the exception with the rule. A restriction in a separate “Important information” section will be retrieved separately, or not at all.

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A worked example

The difference is small to write and large in effect. Both versions are fictional.

Retrieved alone, this is ambiguous

# Returns policy

Applies to: Region A, online purchases
Effective from: 1 March 2026
Source: Returns Policy v4.2

## Return window

Returns are accepted within 30 days.

## Exclusions

Personalized items are excluded.

In the first version, a question about the return deadline retrieves “Returns are accepted within 30 days” — with no region, no exclusion, and no date. In the second, the same question returns a passage that answers it correctly on its own.

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Record what you do not know

Where a fact is unconfirmed, say so beside the fact rather than in a footnote or a separate section:

## Return window — UK purchases

The return period for UK purchases is awaiting confirmation: the two source
policies give different deadlines (14 days in Returns Policy v4.2, 30 days in
the UK Customer Handbook v2). Do not state a deadline until the policy owner
resolves this.

Don’t fill an unknown date, value, or procedure step with a guess. A passage that admits a gap is far better than one that invents an answer.

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Before you upload

Save the completed document as a .md file. Keep this template, and any editing notes about it, out of your persona’s reference folders — otherwise the persona will retrieve advice about writing documents when a user asks about your policies.

Then check a real passage rather than trusting the structure: upload the file and search for a fact from the middle of it. If the returned text does not name its subject, scope, and source, the section it came from needs more context, not the document.

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Next steps

Use Prepare documents for worked examples of splitting files, removing duplication, and handling conflicting sources, then follow the upload checklist.