# Knowledge

MAIA's knowledge takes what you tell it about your business and returns it as context on every turn. It is filled in automatically, open to inspection, and yours to edit.

Updated: 2026-09-30. Source: https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/knowledge

## What it answers

Without knowledge, every project starts with the same introduction: what your company does, which markets you work, what a good site means to you. Knowledge holds that once, and MAIA reads it before you ask.

## Levels

| Level | Who sees it | Where MAIA uses it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Project | Everyone who can open the project | That project only. It ends with the project, so move anything lasting to a higher level |
| Personal | You | Every project you work in |
| Workspace | Everyone in the workspace | Every project in the workspace |

When two levels disagree, the narrower one wins. Project knowledge outranks personal knowledge, and personal knowledge outranks workspace knowledge. In the app, project knowledge is the project's **Project memory** tab.

## The core file and the rest

Each level has one core file and any number of other entries.

| Kind | When MAIA reads it | Limit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Core file | In full, on every turn | 100,000 characters |
| Other entries | When a run calls for one | 8,000 characters each |

In the web app, the core file carries an **Always on** badge. Keep it to what is always true of your work. MAIA reads it on every turn, so everything in it costs attention. Put the rest in other entries.

MAIA reads knowledge as background, not as commands. A saved preference shapes the work. It does not override what you ask for in the chat.

## How it fills in

Knowledge starts before you write a word of it.

- **At signup.** MAIA researches the organization behind your work email domain and writes a short profile into the workspace core file. A personal email domain is skipped. The profile never includes people or contact details. Read it and change what is wrong.
- **As you work.** When you state a lasting fact or a preference, MAIA saves it without asking and tells you where it put it. What it learns inside a project goes to that project's memory. Read what MAIA has saved from time to time, and delete an entry you do not want kept.
- **When you write it.** Add an entry yourself at any time.

MAIA does not save secrets, such as passwords or keys.

## Add an entry

1. Open your account and choose **Knowledge & skills**. For a project's own memory, open the project's **Project memory** tab instead.
2. Choose the level: personal or workspace. Viewers can read workspace entries. Editors and admins can change them.
3. Give the entry a title, and answer **What should MAIA know?**

An entry written by hand might read like this.

> **Note:** **Buy box.** Industrial parcels in Maricopa County, Arizona, between two and seven acres, zoned industrial. Exclude parcels owned by a public agency.

## Writing to it over MCP

Claude, or another MCP client, can write knowledge for you.

| Tool or prompt | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `save_to_maia_memory` | Adds a titled section to your core file, or replaces the section with the same title |
| `teach_maia` | Drafts a short profile of your work and saves it |

Both tell your client to show you the note and save it only after you say yes. Read the draft before you agree. `teach_maia` leaves out personal details that are not about your work. The connector is turned on per workspace.

## What to put in it

Put in:

- Your buy box and your thresholds.
- Your service territory.
- The terms your team uses.
- Owners or uses you always exclude.

Leave out:

- Anything that belongs to one run. Put that in the question.
- A method with steps. Save that as a [skill](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/skills).
- Passwords, keys, and other secrets.
- Personal details about people.

## Related

- [Skills](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/skills) hold method, where knowledge holds context.
- [Define](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/using-maia/define) explains what belongs in the objective itself.
- [Data and privacy](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/reference/data-and-privacy) explains how MAIA handles what you tell it.
- [Limits](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/reference/limits) lists every number in one place.