Understanding Citations

Every answer in IntelliRepo includes citations showing where the information came from. This guide explains how to read and use them.

What Are Citations?

When you ask a question, IntelliRepo:

Searches your documents for relevant content
Finds the most matching passages
Uses those passages to generate an answer
Shows you exactly which sources were used

Citations let you verify answers and find additional context.

Reading Citations

Below each AI answer, you'll see a "Sources" section:

Sources:
- Employee Handbook.pdf (Page 12) - 89% match
- Benefits Summary.pdf (Page 3) - 76% match
- Onboarding Guide.pdf (Page 7) - 68% match

Each citation includes:

Document Name

The file the information came from.

Page Number

For PDFs, the specific page. Text files show "N/A" since they don't have pages.

Match Percentage

How closely this content matches your question:

80-100%: Highly relevant, likely contains the answer
60-80%: Relevant, may contain supporting information
Below 60%: Somewhat related, less likely to be the main source

Expanding Citations

Click any citation to see the exact text that was used:

[Employee Handbook.pdf, Page 12]
"Employees are entitled to 15 days of paid vacation per year.
Vacation time accrues at a rate of 1.25 days per month.
Unused vacation days up to 5 may be carried over to the
following calendar year."

This shows you:

The exact passage the AI used
The context around the key information
Whether the AI interpreted it correctly

Why Citations Matter

Verify Accuracy

The AI interprets your documents, but it's not perfect. Citations let you check that the answer matches the source.

Find More Context

The cited passage might have additional information not included in the summary answer.

Navigate to Original

If you need the full document, you know exactly where to look.

Build Trust

Team members can verify information before acting on it.

How Sources Are Ranked

IntelliRepo uses semantic similarity to rank sources:

Your question is converted to a mathematical representation (embedding)
Document chunks have pre-computed embeddings
Similarity is calculated between your question and each chunk
Top results are shown as sources

The match percentage reflects this semantic similarity - how closely the meaning of the source aligns with your question.

Number of Sources

By default, answers show up to 3 sources. This balances:

Completeness: Showing where information came from
Clarity: Not overwhelming with too many citations

The AI may use information from all retrieved sources, even if only the top 3 are displayed.

When Citations Are Missing

"I couldn't find relevant information"

If the AI can't find matching content:

The topic may not be in your documents
Try different keywords
Check if the document is processed

No sources shown

Occasionally, the AI may provide general guidance without specific citations. This usually means:

The question is very general
Multiple sources contributed small pieces
The answer is based on document structure rather than specific passages

Using Citations Effectively

Verify Important Information

Before making decisions based on an answer:

Click the top source
Read the original passage
Check for additional context

Find Related Content

Sources often contain more than what's in the answer:

Click through to see the full context
Note nearby page numbers for related content

Provide Feedback

If citations seem wrong or irrelevant:

The document may need re-processing
The question may need rephrasing
Contact support if issues persist

Citation Accuracy

High Accuracy Situations

Specific factual questions
Questions with unique keywords
Well-structured documents

Lower Accuracy Situations

Vague or broad questions
Common words with multiple meanings
Poorly formatted source documents

To improve citation accuracy:

Ask specific questions
Use terminology from your documents
Ensure documents are well-structured

Need Help?

Contact our support team if citations aren't appearing correctly.

Chat Interface Tips for Better Answers