Step 5: Update the Knowledge Base - Council Chatbot Walkthrough

Add a new document to the knowledge base and see the chatbot learn it

Step 5 of 5 • 5 minutes

Update the Knowledge Base

The real power of a Knowledge Base is that you can update it without any code changes. In this step, you'll add a new council document and see the chatbot learn from it in minutes.

Part 1: Ask a question the chatbot can't answer

First, let's find a gap in the chatbot's knowledge. The knowledge base doesn't include anything about Japanese knotweed — a common council responsibility.

Copy this question

How do I report a Japanese knotweed infestation on council land?

Paste this into the chatbot and press Send. You should see a response like:

Expected response:

"Sorry, I don't have specific information on reporting Japanese knotweed infestations on council land. Please contact the council directly for assistance."

The chatbot admits it doesn't have this information — exactly what we want. Now let's fix that.

Part 2: Download the document

We've prepared a sample council document about Japanese knotweed services. Download it to your computer — you'll upload it to the Knowledge Base in the next step.

knotweed-guide.txt Plain text, ~1 KB

Preview: what's in the document

Japanese Knotweed Guide - Northfield Metropolitan Borough Council REPORTING JAPANESE KNOTWEED Japanese knotweed is an invasive plant that damages buildings and drains. Report it on council land so we can act. How to report: Call Environmental Services on 0121 555 0183, email knotweed@northfield.gov.uk, or report online at www.northfield.gov.uk/japanese-knotweed After reporting: We inspect within 10 working days, create a treatment plan, and treat over 3 to 5 years with herbicide. Identifying it: Tall bamboo-like stems up to 3 metres, shield-shaped leaves, white flowers in late summer. Roots spread up to 7 metres. Your responsibilities: You must not cause it to spread. It is controlled waste, never put it in garden waste bins. Mortgage lenders may require treatment plans. Council programme: We manage over 45 sites on public land at no cost to residents. For private land, use a Property Care Association certified contractor.

Part 3: Upload to the Knowledge Base S3 bucket

1. Find the S3 bucket name

   Go to your CloudFormation stack's Outputs tab and find the KnowledgeBaseBucket value. It will look like: ndx-try-chatbot-kb-[account-id]-us-east-1

   
2. Open the S3 bucket

   Navigate to S3 in the AWS Console, find the bucket, and open the documents/ folder. You'll see the 30 existing council documents.

   
3. Click Upload

   Click the orange Upload button, then Add files, and select your knotweed-guide.txt file.

   
4. Confirm the upload

   Check the destination shows s3://[your-bucket]/documents/, then click Upload at the bottom of the page.

   

Part 4: Sync the Knowledge Base

The document is in S3, but the Knowledge Base doesn't know about it yet. You need to trigger a sync to index the new document.

1. Open the Bedrock Knowledge Base console

   Go to Amazon Bedrock > Knowledge Bases in the AWS Console.

2. Click on your Knowledge Base

   You'll see one Knowledge Base listed — click on its name (e.g. ndx-try-council-kb-us-east-1) to open the detail page.

   
3. Select the data source and click Sync

   In the Data source section, tick the checkbox next to council-documents, then click the Sync button. This tells the Knowledge Base to scan the S3 bucket for new or changed documents and index them.

4. Wait for the sync to complete

   You'll see a blue banner saying "Syncing data source". For a single new document, this typically takes 30 to 60 seconds. When it finishes, you'll see a green "Sync completed" banner.

   

Part 5: Test the chatbot again

Go back to your chatbot tab, click Clear conversation, and ask the same question:

How do I report a Japanese knotweed infestation on council land?

New response:

"Call Environmental Services on 0121 555 0183, email knotweed@northfield.gov.uk, or report online at www.northfield.gov.uk/japanese-knotweed. After reporting, an inspection will be conducted within 10 working days, followed by a treatment plan and herbicide application over 3 to 5 years."

What just happened

• ✓ You uploaded a new document to S3 — no code changes needed
• ✓ You triggered a Knowledge Base sync to index the new content
• ✓ The chatbot immediately answered using the new document
• ✓ No retraining, no redeployment, no downtime

Why this matters for councils

Content teams can update it

Adding new knowledge doesn't require developers. Anyone who can upload a file to S3 can update what the chatbot knows — just like updating a website.

Changes take effect in minutes

New policies, changed opening hours, seasonal information — upload the document, sync the knowledge base, and residents get accurate answers within minutes.

Plain text documents work

The Knowledge Base accepts .txt, .pdf, .html, .csv, and .md files. You can use existing council documents without reformatting.

Scale without limits

Add hundreds or thousands of documents. The vector search finds the right information regardless of how large the knowledge base grows.

Troubleshooting: Chatbot still doesn't know the answer

• Wait 60 seconds after the sync command and try again — indexing takes time
• Click Clear conversation in the chatbot before asking again — old sessions may use cached context
• Check the file was uploaded to the documents/ folder (not the bucket root)
• Make sure the file is plain text (.txt) — binary formats like .docx won't work without conversion

Troubleshooting: CloudShell command fails

• Check you replaced YOUR_KB_ID with the actual Knowledge Base ID from CloudFormation Outputs
• Ensure you're in the us-east-1 region (check the region selector in the top-right)
• If you see "access denied", the sandbox session may have expired — try refreshing the page

Need help?

If you're stuck, check the troubleshooting section or contact us.

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