Knowledge Bases

Profound MCP gives AI assistants tools to list your Knowledge Bases, search their contents, and add new documents to them. To connect your MCP client to the hosted server, refer to the Connection guides.

Learn more about Knowledge Bases in the Profound Help Center.

How the tools work together

Find a Knowledge Base

Ask which Knowledge Bases you have. The assistant lists them with list_knowledge_bases, showing each one’s name and description.

Search a Knowledge Base

Ask a question your Knowledge Base can answer. The assistant searches its contents with search_knowledge_base and returns the best-matching passages.

Add a document

Ask to save new content to the Knowledge Base. The assistant drafts the document, previews the plan with add_knowledge_base_document, and adds it once you confirm.

Behavior and safety

Behaviors

Behavior	What it means
Preview before apply	`add_knowledge_base_document` defaults to preview mode and adds nothing until the assistant applies the plan with `preview: false`
Add-only writes	MCP can only add documents. To revise or delete one, use the Profound platform
Duplicate names rejected	Adding a document under a name that already exists fails, and the response suggests retrying under a versioned name
Retries create copies	Each applied add creates a new document, so a retry creates another copy unless its name is rejected as a duplicate
Live data	Tools read from the Profound API, so results reflect your current access and data

Knowledge Base tools

Creating a Knowledge Base is not available through MCP. To add one, use the Profound platform.

Tool	Usage
`list_knowledge_bases`	List the Knowledge Bases you can access
`search_knowledge_base`	Search the content inside one Knowledge Base
`add_knowledge_base_document`	Add one new markdown document to a Knowledge Base

list_knowledge_bases

Lists the Knowledge Bases available to you.Example prompts:

“Which Knowledge Bases do we have?”
“Do we have a Knowledge Base for brand guidelines?”

Inputs

Input	Required	Default	Description
`organization_id`	Yes, when you have access to more than one	`null`	The organization whose Knowledge Bases to list. The assistant resolves it with `list_organizations`

search_knowledge_base

Runs a semantic search inside a single Knowledge Base. Each result returns id, score, content, and metadata, including folder_path, source_filename, and filetype.Example prompts:

“What do our brand guidelines say about tone of voice for product launches?”
“Find the pricing FAQ in the product Knowledge Base.”

Inputs

Input	Required	Default	Description
`knowledge_base`	Yes	-	The Knowledge Base to search, by ID, name, or slug
`query`	Yes	-	What to search for, in plain language
`top_k`	No	`10`	Maximum number of results to return
`organization_id`	Yes, when you have access to more than one	`null`	The organization the Knowledge Base belongs to. The assistant resolves it with `list_organizations`

add_knowledge_base_document

Adds one new document to a Knowledge Base as markdown text.Example prompts:

“Save this campaign brief to the marketing Knowledge Base.”
“Add the new positioning doc to the brand guidelines Knowledge Base, under the messaging folder.”

Inputs

Input	Required	Default	Description
`knowledge_base`	Yes	-	The Knowledge Base to add to, by ID, name, or slug
`name`	Yes	-	Document name: lowercase, hyphenated, and descriptive, such as `brand-guidelines`
`text`	Yes	-	The full document content as markdown, with YAML frontmatter at the top
`folder`	No	`null`	Folder to save the document in. When omitted, the document is saved to the Knowledge Base root folder
`preview`	No	`true`	When `true`, return the plan without adding the document; when `false`, add it
`create_missing_parents`	No	`false`	Set to `true` only to confirm creating several nested folder levels at once, after the tool asks to confirm a deeply nested path
`organization_id`	Yes, when you have access to more than one	`null`	The organization the Knowledge Base belongs to. The assistant resolves it with `list_organizations`

Notes:

The tool accepts text only. If your source is a URL, the assistant reads the page first, then submits its content as markdown.
New folders: saving into one new folder inside an existing one works automatically, and the response reports folder_created. Saving into several missing folder levels at once fails first, and the assistant retries with create_missing_parents: true after you confirm the nesting is intended.
Knowledge Base documents are identified by name, so adding a second document with a name that already exists fails.
Newly added content can take a moment to appear in search results. It’s a good practice to confirm with the assistant that the document was added before performing further actions with it.

Resources

Profound MCP provides reference material for Knowledge Bases as read-only MCP resources.

Resource URI	Use it for
`file:///profound/knowledge-base-guide`	The authoring playbook: document intents, the minimum quality bar, naming rules, and folder placement
`file:///profound/knowledge-base-guide/templates`	A collection of markdown and YAML document templates
`file:///profound/glossary/knowledge-base`	The definition of a Knowledge Base

Get Started

MCP Capabilities and Tools

Connect MCP

How the tools work together

Behavior and safety

Behaviors

Knowledge Base tools

Resources

​How the tools work together

​Behavior and safety

​Behaviors

​Knowledge Base tools

​Resources

How the tools work together

Behavior and safety

Behaviors

Knowledge Base tools

Resources