Tools

Knowledge base (RAG)

Ground a run in your own PDFs, standards and reference code.

The Knowledge Base switch grounds a run in indexed reference material rather than leaving the model to work from memory alone. The passages relevant to your request are retrieved and put in front of the generator before it writes a line, which is what keeps an unfamiliar block close to how that block is normally built.

What it does

Retrieval pulls the sections that match your request out of an indexed body of specifications, interface documents, architecture descriptions and reference RTL, and adds them to what the generator can see. It is most valuable when the requirement is larger than a prompt: you cannot reasonably paste an entire interface specification into the composer, and you should not have to.

Nothing is copied verbatim into your module. What is retrieved shapes the implementation; it does not replace it, and the result is still written against your request.

How it differs from the search switches

Knowledge Base retrieves from indexed material. Web Search and Exa Search go out to the live internet. If what you need is on a public page today, those are the right switches; if it is settled reference material, this one is.

When to turn it on

The block has a canonical shape you want followed, rather than a plausible new one.
You are in a domain thick with established idiom, such as clock-domain crossing or bus interfacing.
You are implementing against a formal specification or a large interface document.
You asked for something once, got code that ignored a convention you expected, and want this attempt anchored to real examples.

Note

Retrieval improves grounding, not correctness. It reduces invented syntax and unusual structure; it does not replace running the testbench. Leave Auto-Verify on regardless.

Using your own documents

Pointing this at your own PDFs and specifications is not exposed in the web app yet; the paperclip on the composer says so. Until it lands, two routes work well and neither depends on retrieval finding the right thing first:

Quote the part that matters in the spec. The register map, the timing table, the paragraph that decides the behaviour. This is the most reliable option available, because nothing has to be searched for.
Put it in a project workspace. Upload a zip containing your reference RTL and any documentation alongside it, and it is read directly; see Upload a project.

Limits

Limit	Detail
Language	Verilog and SystemVerilog only; the switch is unavailable for VHDL.
Mode	Plan-mode Build runs only, like every tool switch; see Tools overview.
Failure behaviour	If retrieval is unavailable or finds nothing, the run continues without it rather than failing.
Billing	Retrieval happens inside the run you started; it is not a separate charge.