Using Facts to Keep Your AI Accurate

Facts are short, authoritative statements that your AI Agent treats as ground truth. They're the fastest way to add or correct information in your knowledge base without uploading a full document.

Go to AI Agent → Knowledge Base → Facts to manage them.

What Is a Fact?

A Fact is a single statement that the AI can reference when answering customer questions. Unlike Knowledge Sources (which are full documents the AI reads and interprets), Facts are atomic pieces of information you write in plain language.

Examples:

"We offer free shipping on orders over $75."
"Our warehouse is closed for maintenance July 1-5. Orders placed during this period will ship July 6."
"We do not ship to Alaska or Hawaii."
"All our products are cruelty-free and vegan."
"We no longer carry the Classic Hoodie in black."

When to Use Facts

Correcting outdated information Your shipping policy document says delivery takes 5-7 days, but you've since switched to a faster carrier. Instead of re-uploading the entire document, add a Fact: "Standard shipping now takes 3-5 business days".

Adding temporary information You're running a holiday promotion or have a temporary warehouse delay. A Fact is the right tool because you can archive it when it's no longer relevant without touching your permanent documents.

Filling gaps between documents Your Knowledge Sources cover the big topics, but customers keep asking a specific question that falls through the cracks. A quick Fact fills that gap immediately.

Overriding a specific detail in a document Facts take priority over document content when both are relevant. If a Knowledge Source says one thing and a Fact says another, the AI favors the Fact.

Creating a Fact

Click Add Fact in the Facts section of the Knowledge Base tab
Fill in:
- Statement: The fact itself. Write it as a clear, self-contained sentence. Max 2,000 characters.
- Trigger Context (optional): A hint that tells the AI when this fact is most relevant. For example, a fact about shipping times might have a trigger context of "shipping information" or "delivery times."
- Linked Sources (optional): Connect the fact to related Knowledge Sources for organization.
Click Save

The fact becomes active immediately after saving and embedding.

Writing Good Facts

Be specific and self-contained. Each fact should make sense on its own without needing other context.

Good	Not Great
"We offer free returns within 30 days of delivery."	"Free returns within 30 days." (30 days of what? Purchase? Delivery?)
"The Slim Fit Tee runs one size small. We recommend ordering one size up."	"Size up on the Slim Fit." (Which product? How much?)
"We do not offer exchanges. Customers must return and reorder."	"No exchanges." (What should the customer do instead?)

Use Trigger Context to improve relevance. The trigger context helps the AI surface the right fact at the right time. You don't need to write a full sentence here, just a few keywords about when this fact applies.

Fact	Good Trigger Context
"Standard shipping takes 3-5 business days."	shipping times, delivery
"For payment methods: We accept Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, and PayPal."	payment methods, checkout
"Our customer support hours are Mon-Fri 9am-5pm EST."	contact, support hours

Facts vs. Verified Answers vs. Knowledge Sources

Use This	When You Need
Fact	A quick, specific piece of information the AI should know. No control over exact wording of the response.
Verified Answer	Exact control over how the AI responds to a specific question. The wording matters.
Knowledge Source	A full document the AI reads and draws from for multiple topics. Broad coverage.

Example scenario: Your return window changed from 14 days to 30 days.

If you want the AI to know the new window and answer naturally: add a Fact ("Our return window is 30 days from delivery").
If you want to control the exact response to "What's your return policy?": update your Verified Answer
If you want to replace the entire policy document: update your Knowledge Source

Often the right approach is to update the Fact for immediate accuracy and then update the Knowledge Source when you have time.

Managing Facts Over Time

Archive seasonal or temporary facts when they expire. A fact about a holiday shipping delay should be archived after the holidays.
Review facts when you update Knowledge Sources. If you re-upload a shipping policy with the correct delivery times, archive the fact that was correcting the old version. Otherwise the AI may reference both.
Check onboarding facts. If TxtCart created facts from your onboarding answers (shipping carrier, return window, support email) and you've since added full Shopify policy pages covering the same topics, archive the onboarding facts to avoid conflicting information.
Use the Playground to verify. After adding a fact, test it in the Playground by asking a related question. Confirm the AI surfaces the new information.