What citations are
When Vex answers a question using a knowledge base article, it can include a link to that article directly in its reply — "Based on our guide on billing, here's what I found: [read more]." That link is a citation. Visitors can click it to read the full article for more detail.
Citations only work for knowledge base sources. Public URLs and uploaded documents don't generate citation links because there's no guaranteed public article URL to link to.
How citations appear
Vex includes citations inline in its reply as a natural sentence, not a footnote list. The link opens the full knowledge base article — in the widget's in-app reader if the widget has a Help tab, or in a new browser tab.
Making citations work well
Citations are only as useful as the articles they point to. A few practices make a big difference:
- Write focused articles. One article per topic means Vex cites the right source, not a sprawling article where the relevant section is buried.
- Use descriptive titles. The article title appears in the citation link. "Billing FAQ" is less useful than "How to update your payment method."
- Keep articles up to date. A citation to a stale article damages trust. Use the knowledge gaps report to find articles that Vex cites frequently — those are the ones worth keeping fresh.
- Publish, don't draft. Vex only cites published articles. Drafts in your KB don't show up as citations even if Vex has access to that KB.
Citation accuracy
Vex cites the article it found most relevant to the question, not necessarily the one it used verbatim. If you notice Vex citing an article that doesn't match the answer it gave, the likely cause is a poorly scoped article — two unrelated topics in the same article confuse the retrieval. Split it into two articles.
Next step
Review which articles are getting cited (and which questions produce no citation): Find knowledge gaps Vex couldn't answer.