# Ingesting Data into the Knowledge Base

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to send data to the SnackPrompt AI Engine Knowledge Base.

### What is an Elemental?

An **elemental** is the basic unit of data in SnackPrompt. It can be:

* A **table** with columns and items
* A **document** with sections
* A **file** with structured content

When you send an elemental, the API:

1. Processes the content
2. Generates embeddings (vector representations)
3. Stores in the Knowledge Base
4. Makes the data searchable

### Prerequisites

* A valid `tenant_id`  [(See how to find it)](https://docs.snackprompt.com/how-to/how-to-obtain-your-user-id-tenant-id) 
* The `elemental_id` of the data you want to ingest (obtained from the SnackPrompt platform)

### Step 1: Send an Elemental

To ingest an elemental, make a POST request:

```bash
curl -X POST https://api-integrations.snackprompt.com/v1/kb/elemental \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "elemental_id": "YOUR_ELEMENTAL_ID",
    "trace_id": "my-trace-001"
  }'
```

#### Parameters

| Parameter      | Type   | Required | Description                            |
| -------------- | ------ | -------- | -------------------------------------- |
| `elemental_id` | string | Yes      | ID of the elemental to ingest          |
| `trace_id`     | string | No       | ID for tracking (useful for debugging) |

### Step 2: Understand the Response

Ingestion is processed in **background**. You'll receive an immediate confirmation:

```json
{
  "status": "accepted",
  "message": "Ingestion started for YOUR_ELEMENTAL_ID",
  "data": {
    "job_id": "my-trace-001",
    "elemental_id": "YOUR_ELEMENTAL_ID"
  }
}
```

**Status code:** `202 Accepted`

This means the request was accepted and is being processed. Ingestion may take a few seconds to minutes, depending on the data size.

### Step 3: Verify Data Was Ingested

To confirm your data is available, make a simple search:

```bash
curl -X POST https://api-integrations.snackprompt.com/v1/kb/search \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "test",
    "filters": {
      "tenant_id": "YOUR_TENANT_ID",
      "elemental_id": "YOUR_ELEMENTAL_ID"
    },
    "limit": 1
  }'
```

If it returns results, your data was successfully ingested!

### How to Remove Data

#### Remove by Elemental ID

To remove all data from a specific elemental:

```bash
curl -X DELETE https://api-integrations.snackprompt.com/v1/kb/elemental/YOUR_ELEMENTAL_ID
```

**Response:**

```json
{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Ingestion deleted for elemental_id: YOUR_ELEMENTAL_ID",
  "data": {
    "elemental_id": "YOUR_ELEMENTAL_ID"
  }
}
```

#### Remove by Filters

To remove data using more specific filters:

```bash
curl -X POST https://api-integrations.snackprompt.com/v1/kb/delete \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "filters": {
      "tenant_id": "YOUR_TENANT_ID",
      "elemental_id": "YOUR_ELEMENTAL_ID"
    }
  }'
```

> **Important:** The `tenant_id` is **required** for filter-based deletion operations.

### What Happens During Ingestion?

When you send an elemental, the API executes the following steps:

```
1. Receives the elemental_id
       ↓
2. Fetches complete data from SnackPrompt platform
       ↓
3. Processes the content (parsing)
       ↓
4. Splits into chunks (smaller pieces)
       ↓
5. Generates embeddings
       ↓
6. Stores in our Vector Database
       ↓
7. Data available for search!
```

### Stored Metadata

During ingestion, the following metadata is stored with each chunk:

| Field                | Description                                   |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| `tenant_id`          | Tenant ID (for isolation)                     |
| `user_id`            | User ID                                       |
| `snack_elemental_id` | Source elemental ID                           |
| `snack_column_id`    | Column ID (if applicable)                     |
| `snack_item_id`      | Specific item ID                              |
| `source`             | Source type (`elemental`, `document`, `file`) |
| `type_name`          | Elemental type (Table, Document, etc.)        |
| `category_name`      | Elemental category                            |
| `original_text`      | Original chunk content                        |
| `tag_ids`            | Associated tag IDs                            |
| `tag_names`          | Associated tag names                          |

### Tag Inheritance

Tags are inherited in cascade:

```
Document (document tags)
    └── Column (column tags)
            └── Item (item tags)
```

The final item will have the **merge** of all tags (no duplicates).

### Next Steps

Now that your data is in the Knowledge Base:

1. Semantic Search - Learn how to search your data
2. Chat with your Data - Chat with your data using AI
3. Filter by Tags - Use tags to filter results

***

**Estimated time:** 10 minutes ✅


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

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Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.snackprompt.com/bring-your-data-into-ai/tutorials/ingesting-data-into-the-knowledge-base.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.