Grounding and citations

Grounding means the agent can trace important claims back to source material.

Grounding modes

Mode	Meaning
none	Citations are not expected. Suitable for low-risk drafts.
recommended	Important claims should cite source anchors when available.
required	Claims must be backed by source anchors or marked unknown.

Set the mode in frontmatter:

grounding: required

Source anchors

A source anchor identifies where a claim came from.

Examples:

source: sources/transcripts/founder-interview.md#L120
source: sources/reports/q1.pdf#page=4
source: sources/calls/customer-demo.vtt#t=00:12:33

Claim records

For strict packs, keep claim records in wiki/sources/ or compiled/facts.md:

- claim: Acme Widget is sold in three tiers.
  status: confirmed
  source: sources/pricing-notes.md#tiers
  updated: 2026-05-01

Runtime behavior

When grounding is required, compatible clients should instruct the model to:

• answer only from loaded pack context and allowed tools
• mark missing information as unknown
• include citations in generated output when requested
• avoid using memory or model prior as factual authority

High-risk domains

Use grounding: required for domains such as:

• legal
• healthcare
• finance
• compliance
• HR policies
• regulated product claims