Core References
Your workspace's authoritative knowledge base. Store policy manuals, textbooks, regulations, and key documents that power intelligent AI searches and research across all your work.
Auto-Indexed Knowledge Base
Documents in core_references are automatically indexed for fast, accurate AI searches
Context-Aware Search
AI searches understand your workspace type and provide relevant, authoritative answers
Citation-Ready Content
Perfect for legal compliance, academic research, and professional documentation
What is the core_references Folder?
The core_references folder is SafeAppeals' intelligent knowledge base system. Any documents you place in this folder at your workspace root are automatically indexed and become searchable by the AI assistant.
How It Works
- Auto-Detection: SafeAppeals automatically finds and indexes PDFs, Word docs, and text files
- Smart Chunking: Documents are intelligently split for accurate search results
- Context Awareness: AI understands your workspace type (legal, research, business)
- Real-time Updates: Changes to files are automatically re-indexed
What Belongs in core_references?
Different workspace types have different types of authoritative documents. Here's what belongs incore_references for each use case:
Legal & Claims Workspaces
Policy manuals, statutes, regulations, and legal precedents
Documents to include:
Example query:
@refrences What are the requirements for permanent disability rating appeals?Research & Academic Workspaces
Textbooks, methodology guides, seminal papers, and research protocols
Documents to include:
Example query:
@refrences What are the ethical considerations for participant recruitment?Business & Project Workspaces
Company policies, industry standards, contracts, and professional guidelines
Documents to include:
Example query:
@refrences What are our quality control procedures for client deliverables?Setting Up core_references
Create the Folder
SafeAppeals automatically creates the folder, or you can create it manually
- Folder appears at workspace root as core_references/
- Auto-created when you first use RAG search features
- You can create it manually if preferred
Add Your Documents
Copy authoritative documents into the folder
- Supported formats: PDF, DOCX, DOC, TXT, MD
- Files are automatically indexed within seconds
- Subfolders are supported for organization
- Changes are detected and re-indexed automatically
Start Searching
Use @refrences or @search commands to query your knowledge base
- Ask questions in natural language
- Get citations with page numbers and sources
- AI understands context from your workspace type
- Results improve as you add more reference material
Using @refrences Search Commands
Once your documents are indexed, you can search them using these commands in the chat:
@refrences [question]— Search core reference documents for authoritative answers@refrences What are the appeal deadlines for workers compensation?@search [topic]— Broader search across all indexed content (policy + case files)@search medical treatment guidelines for back injuries@rag [query]— Advanced RAG search with detailed results and citations@rag summarize the permanent disability rating criteriaSearch Results Include:
- Source Citations: Document name, page numbers, and verbatim quotes
- Relevance Scores: How well each result matches your query
- Context Snippets: Relevant text excerpts with your search terms highlighted
- Cross-References: Related sections from other documents
Best Practices for Reference Documents
Use Clear Filenames
Name files descriptively so you can identify them in search results
Organize with Subfolders
Use subfolders to group related documents for better search results
Keep Documents Current
Regularly update policies, regulations, and guidelines as they change
Quality Over Quantity
Focus on authoritative, official sources rather than collecting everything
Security & Privacy
Your reference documents are processed locally on your machine. SafeAppeals never sends your documents to external servers unless you explicitly configure cloud-based AI providers.
Local Processing
All document indexing and search happens on your local machine
No Automatic Uploads
Documents stay in your workspace folder and are not automatically sent anywhere
AI Provider Choice
You control which AI services process your queries and responses
Workspace Isolation
Each workspace has its own separate index - documents don't mix between projects
Troubleshooting
Documents not appearing in search results
→ Wait a few seconds for indexing to complete. Check that files are in the core_references folder and are supported formats (PDF, DOCX, TXT).
Search results are irrelevant
→ Try more specific search terms. Check that your documents contain the information you're looking for. Consider reorganizing with clearer filenames.
Slow search performance
→ Large documents take longer to index. For best performance, keep individual files under 50MB. Consider splitting very large documents.
Changes not reflected in search
→ The system automatically detects changes, but you can force a re-index by touching/modifying the file timestamp.
Pro Tip: Combine with Case Configuration
For legal workspaces, set up a .fileorg.json case configuration file. This helps the AI better understand your specific case context when searching core reference documents, leading to more relevant and accurate results.