Build a Document Q&A Assistant#

This end-to-end walkthrough chains the steps from Using models on DKubeX, Knowledge bases, and Chat into one workflow: turning a set of documents into a chat assistant that answers questions with citations.

1. Set up your models#

  1. Open the Model providers page (avatar → Model providers).

  2. Set up the DKubeX provider with your SecureLLM API key, then open Set Default Models and choose your default chat and embedding models.

2. Create and populate a knowledge base#

  1. Create a dataset.

  2. On its Configuration page, select a chunking method that suits your files (for example, General) and confirm your embedding model. For PDFs with formatted or image-based text, choose an appropriate PDF parser such as DeepDoc; for plain-text PDFs, Naive is faster.

  3. Upload your documents and parse them.

  4. Optionally, open a parsed file to review its chunks and add keywords or questions to improve how they are retrieved.

3. Verify retrieval#

Before wiring up a chat, run a retrieval test so you know the right chunks come back:

  1. Go to the dataset’s Retrieval testing page.

  2. Enter a representative question in Test text and click Testing.

  3. If the results are off, adjust the Similarity threshold (default 0.2) and Vector similarity weight (default 0.3), and rerun.

4. Create the chat assistant#

  1. Click the Chat tab, then Create an assistant.

  2. Under Assistant settings, name the assistant and select your dataset. Keep Show quote enabled so answers cite their sources.

  3. To confine answers to your documents, set an Empty response; leave it blank to let the model improvise when nothing is retrieved.

  4. Under Model settings, pick your chat model and a Creativity preset (Precise is a good default for factual Q&A).

  5. Save and start asking questions. Each answer cites the chunks it used.

5. Iterate#

If answers are weak, return to the knowledge base and tune it — adjust the chunking method, add metadata or tag sets, or re-run retrieval tests — then refine the assistant’s prompt and retrieval settings until the answers are accurate and well-cited.