> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://wiredesk.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Test a question

> See exactly which passages your agent's knowledge returns for a question, and use that to debug answers.

**Test a question** runs the same knowledge search the agent runs mid-conversation and shows you what comes back. Use it to check a new source, and as the first step whenever the agent gives a wrong or vague answer. It tells you straight away whether the problem is the knowledge or something else.

It's on the **Knowledge** page, in the box headed **Ask a question it should know**. The box only appears once at least one source is ready.

## Run a test

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Knowledge">
    Go to **Agents → your agent → Knowledge**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Ask like a customer">
    Type the question the way a customer would. For example "how much is whitening?", not "whitening price list". Click **Search**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read the results">
    Each result is one passage from your knowledge, with how closely it matches and which source it came from.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What the results show

For each passage you get:

* **match N%**: how close the passage is to your question in meaning. Higher is closer.
* **The source**: the page title (or its address, if it has no title) for a website page, the file name for a file, or "Pasted text" for a note.
* **The passage text**: the exact text the agent would have to answer from.

You'll see at most five passages, the same five the agent would get. Weak matches, below 50%, aren't shown, because the agent never sees them either.

If nothing comes back, you'll see: *"No passages matched — the agent would say it's not sure and offer to take a message."* That's what happens in a real conversation too.

## Use it to debug an answer

Start from the question that went wrong, word for word, and read what comes back.

| What you see                                                                        | What it means                                                                                            | What to do                                                                                                                            |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| No passages matched                                                                 | The fact isn't in the agent's knowledge, or it's worded so differently that search doesn't connect them. | Add a [note](/docs/knowledge/notes) that states the fact in the customer's words.                                                          |
| The right passage, near the top                                                     | The knowledge is fine.                                                                                   | The problem is elsewhere, usually the [instructions](/docs/persona/instructions). See [Fix a wrong answer](/docs/knowledge/fix-a-wrong-answer). |
| The right source, but the passage is mostly menus, headers or footer text           | The fact is buried in a page full of repeated site text.                                                 | Add a short note stating the fact plainly.                                                                                            |
| An old or wrong passage                                                             | Out-of-date content is still indexed.                                                                    | [Re-read the site](/docs/knowledge/website#re-crawling), or remove the old source or file.                                                 |
| Passages from pages that shouldn't be there (a login page, terms, an old promotion) | Noise is competing with the answer.                                                                      | [Exclude those pages](/docs/knowledge/keep-it-current#exclude-pages-from-a-website).                                                       |

After any fix, run the same question again. A change you haven't re-tested might not have worked. A new note can still lose to a page that uses the same words more often.

## What it doesn't show

* **The agent's actual reply.** This only shows what the search returns. To see what the agent says, talk to it in the **Playground** (see [Test your agent](/docs/agents/test-your-agent)).
* **Exactly what the agent searches for.** In a conversation, the agent writes its own short search phrase from what the customer said, so its wording can differ from yours. Try two or three phrasings of the same question.
* **Whether the agent searches at all.** If **Knowledge — answer from your website & documents** is off under **How it talks**, the agent never searches, whatever this test shows.

## Related

* [Fix a wrong answer](/docs/knowledge/fix-a-wrong-answer)
* [Notes and text](/docs/knowledge/notes)
* [Test your agent](/docs/agents/test-your-agent)
* [How answers work](/docs/concepts/how-answers-work)