> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ainomos.ch/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Knowledge overview > See everything a room has decided, must follow and can cite, and how that knowledge reaches answers. The **Knowledge** page shows everything a room has decided, must follow and can cite: its decisions, rules, exceptions and documents, in one list. Answers in the chat and in connected AI apps draw on this knowledge, and every answer cites the records it used. Who can see this: every member of the room. Your organisation can hide decisions or documents from standard users. People with a responsibility in the room (owners, deciders and curators) still see them. See [visibility](https://docs.ainomos.ch/privacy/visibility.md). ## The four kinds of record | Kind | What it is | Learn more | | - | - | - | | Decision | A recorded decision with a type (for example ADR, BDR or SDR), a status and the sentence agents follow. A draft becomes binding once a decider accepts it. | [Decisions](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/decisions.md) | | Rule | Something every answer and agent action in the room must follow: a hard rule, a guardrail or a convention. | [Rules](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/rules.md) | | Exception | A time-limited permission to depart from a guardrail, approved by an owner of the rule's room. | [Exceptions](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/exceptions.md) | | Document | A file brought into the room, such as a PDF policy. Answers quote its passages. | [Documents](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/documents.md) | Rooms form a tree. Records of the rooms above yours also apply in your room. They are called inherited records. ## Open the Knowledge page **1. Open Knowledge** Select **Knowledge** in the sidebar. Below it you find one page per kind (**Decisions**, **Documents**, **Rules**, **Exceptions**), plus **Import** and **Graph**. **2. Pick the room** Choose the room in the room selector at the top. The list shows that room's records. The count bar at the top shows **To decide** (what waits for your decision), then the room's numbers of **Decisions**, **Documents**, **Rules** and **Exceptions**. Select a number to open that kind's page. Room owners and curators also see a setup card, for example "Engineering: 3 of 6 set up". It links to the next missing step: **A purpose**, **A rule**, **A decision**, **A document**, **Agent instructions** or **Nothing left to decide**. **Hide** puts it away. ## Find a record The list shows the newest records first and loads more as you scroll. Its columns are **Kind**, **Name**, **State**, **Owner**, **From** and **Updated**. Select **Name**, **State**, **Owner** or **Updated** to sort. * **Search** matches a record's key and title, and the text of decisions. * **Kind** shows **All**, or only **Decisions**, **Documents**, **Rules** or **Exceptions**. * **State** narrows by state, see below. * **Owner** shows the records of one person. * **Include inherited** (for example **Include 5 inherited**) adds the records of the rooms above. **From** names the room each comes from. * **Clear filters** resets everything. | State | What it shows | | - | - | | **Any state** | Every record. | | **To decide** | Drafts you may decide. Select several, then **Accept** or **Reject** them together (the button shows the number, for example **Accept 3**). Accepted records become binding for agents. | | **In force** | Accepted decisions, active rules and exceptions, and documents whose dates cover today. | | **Expired or superseded** | Records that ended or were replaced. | | **Rejected** | Drafts a decider turned down. | People with a cross-room role, such as an auditor, also see **Cross-room decisions** beside the page title. It lists the decisions they may read in every room. ### List or map Where your account may see the room's graph, **Show as** switches between **List** and **Map**. **Map** opens the **Graph** page, which draws the same filtered records and their links. See [the Graph page](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/knowledge-health.md). ## Open a record Select a row to open it. **Back to** returns to the list. **Previous** and **Next** step through the list you came from. | Tab | What it shows | | - | - | | **Content** | The record: a decision's text and the sentence agents follow, a rule's statement, or a document's text. | | **Relations** | The record and its direct links, as a small map and as a list. | | **History** | Decisions only: where the decision came from, how it changed, and the answers that cited it. **Open evidence** shows the full record of such an answer. | | **Ratings** | Decisions only: how people rated it. | | **Details** | What Ainomos recorded about the record, such as who proposed and accepted it, or a document's reference and validity. | An inherited record shows **Inherited from** and its room. You read it here and change it in its own room. ## Relations between records A relation says how two records hang together. The most common ones: | Relation | Meaning | | - | - | | supersedes | The record replaces the other one. | | depends on | The other record must hold for this one to hold. | | refines | The record sharpens the other one. | | relates to | A loose reference. | | conflicts with | The two records contradict each other, shown for review. | | retires | The record ends the other one without a successor. | Relations come from people who link records, from links inside imported files, and from [dreaming](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/dreaming.md), which proposes them. A proposed relation is drawn dashed and has no effect on answers until a person confirms it in the [Inbox](https://docs.ainomos.ch/chat/inbox.md). ## Create something new Select **Create** at the top of the page. What it offers depends on the page and on your role: | Option | What happens | Who sees it | | - | - | - | | **Write a decision** | Opens the form for a new decision. It becomes a draft that the decider for its type accepts. | Every member | | **Upload a file** | Opens **Import**, where Ainomos sorts your files into documents, rules, exceptions and decisions. | Room owners and curators | | **Write a rule** | Opens the rule form. The rule applies when saved, here and in the rooms below. | Room owners | | **Request an exception** | Opens the exception request. An owner of the rule's room decides and sets an end date. | Every member | ## Owners and validity dates Most records name an owner: the person in the room who answers for the record. Records also say when they apply. Answers quote a document only between its **Valid from** and **Valid until** dates. A rule can show dates too, but it applies for as long as it is active. Every exception has an end date. When a record has run out but is still in use, [Knowledge Health](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/knowledge-health.md) lists it for the room's owners and curators. ## How knowledge reaches answers When someone asks a question in a room, Ainomos: 1. Looks only at what the person may see: the room's own knowledge and that of the rooms above it. 2. Searches by meaning and by words. Exact terms, such as a decision key, a path or a legal article, count extra. A question that names a decision by its key always brings that decision in. 3. Ranks what it found. Binding sources come first, and up to eight passages go to the model. 4. Adds the rules that apply in the room and its accepted decisions. 5. Lets the model answer. The answer cites each source with a number that leads back to the record. Documents outside their validity dates are not quoted. Only accepted decisions count as binding: a draft that a question names is labelled as not binding. See [reading answers](https://docs.ainomos.ch/chat/reading-answers.md). ## Related * [Documents](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/documents.md) * [Decisions](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/decisions.md) * [Knowledge Health](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/knowledge-health.md) * [Bring in documents](https://docs.ainomos.ch/import/documents.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.