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A knowledge base gives the AI access to documents you have collected: research papers, clinical guides, textbook chapters, personal notes, or any other text. Instead of answering from general training knowledge alone, getbased searches your library first, sends the most relevant passages with your question, and asks the AI to cite them when useful. getbased supports two backends: an in-browser engine that runs on your device with no install required, and an external knowledge server you self-host for larger document libraries or faster retrieval.

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Open the knowledge base panel

Open Knowledge Base from the Manage section of the sidebar, or use the knowledge base indicator in chat when a library is active. The knowledge base lives in its own modal, not in Settings.

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In-browser vs external server

The in-browser backend runs entirely in your browser using transformers.js and the browser’s private file storage (OPFS). Documents are indexed locally — nothing leaves your device for the knowledge base step.Best for: a few dozen to a few hundred documents. No install, no server, no external dependencies. Works offline after the initial model download.

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Create a library

1

Open the knowledge base panel

Open Knowledge Base from the Manage section of the sidebar.
2

Choose In-browser

Select On this device and click New library.
3

Choose a search profile

getbased measures the local search engine and recommends a profile that balances retrieval quality with import speed. CPU-based browsers normally start with Balanced; the largest English model is selected automatically only when fast WebGPU acceleration is available. You can always choose another profile yourself.The model is locked at library creation — switching later would require re-indexing all documents, so the choice is made upfront. Libraries created before v1.21.4 continue to use MiniLM with no forced migration.
4

Add documents

Drop your files into the panel. Supported formats: PDF, DOCX (Word), Markdown, plain text, and ZIP archives containing any of the above.
5

Wait for indexing

A progress pill shows reading, model loading, indexing speed, estimated time remaining, and saving. You can close the panel and keep using the app. Stop indexing safely discards the pending import and leaves the existing library unchanged.
Large batches (several hundred files) can take 10+ minutes on the in-browser engine. If that is your workflow, consider the external server backend below.

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Switch between libraries

Open the knowledge base panel and choose a library from the Active library menu. Only one library is active at a time. The active library name appears as a badge in the chat header whenever it is being used.Re-importing an unchanged document is skipped. Re-importing changed content with the same filename replaces that document’s previous excerpts instead of creating duplicates.

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Query rewriting (recall booster)

When an AI provider is configured, the knowledge base can rephrase each question into three variants before searching, then merge the results. This closes the vocabulary gap between how you write your notes and how you ask questions later — a search for “Black Seed Oil” will also find notes titled “Nigella Sativa”.Toggle “Improve recall with query rewriting” in the knowledge base panel (default: on). Each rewrite uses roughly 100 tokens from your configured provider. Repeat questions in the same session use cached rewrites.

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Where knowledge base results appear

When a library is active, knowledge base search runs automatically on every chat message and Current Focus refresh. getbased fetches the most relevant passages and sends them with your health context before the AI answers. The AI cites them inline when relevant. A badge in the chat header shows the active library name whenever retrieval is running.

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What leaves your browser

Only the question itself is sent to the knowledge source — no lab values, profile details, or other private data. Choose a server you control or trust.

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Disable without losing your config

Toggle Enable Knowledge Source off to pause retrieval without deleting your configuration. The chat header badge disappears and subsequent AI calls use only your interpretive lens text.

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Caching

getbased caches each query result for 5 minutes (up to 20 entries, scoped per profile). Switching profiles, changing the config, or clicking Clear cache in the panel flushes the cache.