---
title: "Improve your bot's answers"
description: "Fix a bot that says \"I don't know\", gives wrong or made-up answers, goes off-topic, rambles, forgets context or replies in the wrong language."
canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/improve/improve-answers"
last_updated: "2026-09-25"
---

# Improve your bot's answers

Find the problem you're seeing below, then work through the causes in order: the first ones are the most common and the quickest to check. Each fix links to the page that owns the setting.

**Who can do this:** [team owners and admins](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/teams#what-each-role-can-do) can change the settings below.

For why these problems happen (how knowledge, instructions, history and the model combine into a reply), read [How your bot answers](https://chatthing.ai/docs/improve/how-your-bot-answers) first. To catch problems before customers report them, see [After launch](https://chatthing.ai/docs/improve/after-launch).

> **Let Otto find the cause**
>
> Open the conversation in **Conversations** and click **Ask Otto about this chat**. Otto reads the exchange and the sources the bot used, explains what went wrong and proposes a fix. See [Otto](https://chatthing.ai/docs/get-started/otto).

Retrieval settings live in **General settings** under **Model settings (advanced)**. Each is explained in [Retrieval settings](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/retrieval-settings) and the [settings reference](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/settings-reference).

## The bot says "I don't know" when the answer is in your content

1. **The content hasn't synced.** Check the **Data sources** tab: the source must have finished syncing. If a sync failed, see [Troubleshooting](https://chatthing.ai/docs/help/troubleshooting#data-sources-and-syncing).
2. **The content isn't really there.** Search your data source for the answer. Website sources can miss content that's loaded by JavaScript, or capture only part of the page if the content selector is too narrow. See [Add a website](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/website).
3. **Retrieval is too strict.** Lower **Document relevance** so more content counts as a match, and raise **Max context documents** so the bot sees more pieces at once. Short entries, such as one-line FAQs or product rows, often need a lower relevance.
4. **Follow-up questions lose the thread.** Turn on **Enhanced knowledge retrieval**. It rewrites a follow-up like "how much is it?" into a complete question before searching. It uses more tokens.
5. **The Prompt is too restrictive.** Rules like "only answer questions about billing" can make the bot refuse things it knows. See [Write your bot's instructions](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/instructions).

## The bot gives wrong or made-up answers

1. **Your content is out of date or contradicts itself.** Remove old pages, and turn on automatic syncing. See [Keep your bot up to date](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/keep-it-up-to-date).
2. **The Prompt allows guessing.** The default prompt lets the bot fall back on the model's general knowledge when your content doesn't cover a question. To stop that, add: "Only answer from the provided context. If the answer isn't in the context, say you don't know and offer to connect the customer with the team."
3. **Retrieval is too loose.** Raise **Document relevance** so loosely related content isn't passed to the bot.
4. **Creativity is too high.** Lower **Creativity (temperature)** for more literal, consistent answers.
5. **The content is hard to match.** Clear headings, one topic per page and question-style titles make the right content easier to find. See [Structure your content for good answers](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/best-practices).
6. **The model isn't up to the task.** On plans with model selection, try a more capable model. See [Models](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/models).

## The bot answers questions it shouldn't

1. **The Prompt doesn't set boundaries.** Say what the bot is for and what to do with anything else, for example: "You only help with questions about Acme's products. For anything else, politely say you can't help with that."
2. **Your knowledge covers more than you want.** Remove data sources or pages the bot shouldn't talk about.
3. **Creativity is high.** Lower **Creativity (temperature)**.

## Answers are too long

1. **The Prompt doesn't set a length.** Add: "Keep answers to two or three sentences unless the customer asks for more detail. Use bullet points for steps."
2. **The bot is given too much content.** Lower **Max context documents** so it sees fewer pieces at once.
3. **The model is wordy.** Some models write longer answers than others. See [Models](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/models).

## The bot replies in the wrong language

1. **The Prompt doesn't say which language to use.** Add: "Always reply in the same language the customer writes in." If your Prompt is written in one language, the bot may default to it.
2. **The widget language is a separate setting.** The web channel's **Language** setting changes the widget's buttons and labels, not the bot's replies. See [Languages](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/website/languages).
3. **Your content is in another language.** The bot can answer in a different language from your content, but answers are most reliable when the content and the question share a language.

## The bot forgets what was said earlier

1. **The conversation is longer than the bot's history.** The bot sees up to **Max message history** earlier messages (default 12, up to 50). Raise it in **Model settings (advanced)**. More history uses more message tokens per reply.
2. **The context budget is full.** If **Max context size (base tokens)** is low, older messages are dropped to make room for knowledge. Raise it, or lower **Max context documents**.
3. **Details should come from your site, not the chat.** If the bot keeps asking for things you already know, such as the customer's name or plan, pass them in with the JavaScript SDK's [`identifyUser`](https://chatthing.ai/docs/developers/javascript-sdk#identify-the-user) or a [pre-chat form](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/website/lead-form). The bot sees them on every reply.

## The bot doesn't use a power-up when it should

See [My bot never uses the power-up](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/how-power-ups-work#my-bot-never-uses-the-power-up). The fix is usually a clearer **Description** on the power-up, a line in the **Prompt** saying when to use it, or a model that supports power-ups.

## Check the fix worked

Click **Test** on your bot's page and ask the original question again, plus a couple of rewordings. On the Enterprise plan, save the question as a test case so you're told if the problem comes back. See [Test your bot's answers](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/test-your-bot).

## Related

- [How your bot answers a message](https://chatthing.ai/docs/improve/how-your-bot-answers): What happens between a customer's message and your bot's reply, why answers go wrong, and which setting or page fixes each problem.
- [Retrieval settings](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/retrieval-settings): Control how much of your knowledge your bot reads for each message - document relevance, context documents, enhanced retrieval, sources and chunk size.
- [Write your bot's instructions](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/instructions): Write the prompt that sets your bot's role, topics, tone, answer length, language, power-up use and handoff, with before-and-after examples.