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Files & Knowledge troubleshooting

Use this guide when a file uploads but cannot be used, a Knowledge source never becomes ready, or retrieval misses expected content.

Upload failed

Check:
  • file size and type
  • account/organization upload policy
  • storage limit
  • active session
  • current platform health

Upload succeeded but content is unavailable

The file can exist before extraction or indexing is complete. Check processing state.

Source is stuck processing

Determine which stage is stuck:
  • extraction
  • chunking
  • embeddings
  • indexing
If many unrelated sources are stuck at the same stage, inspect worker/provider health.

Source is FAILED

Inspect source-specific error metadata when available. Fix unsupported/corrupt input, integration access, provider problems, or storage issues before retrying.

Source is ready but query misses it

Check:
  1. active Project/organization context
  2. requester permission
  3. direct distinctive query
  4. retrieval candidates
  5. reranking/filtering
  6. context/result limits
  7. model interpretation

Repository is stale

Refresh the connected repository/revision after major changes. Confirm Starfire still has integration access and is indexing the intended branch.

Duplicate sources

Avoid repeated re-upload as a troubleshooting technique. Duplicates can create confusing retrieval results while leaving the real ingestion problem unresolved.

Citation points to wrong material

Treat that as a retrieval/citation-verification issue. A source existing in the run is not enough; the cited passage must support the claim.

Retrieval debugging

Follow the full ingestion-to-model diagnostic chain.