---
title: "Knowledge graphs"
description: "How graphs build, stay current, and what rebuilds cost."
canonical: https://ocho.bot/docs/library/knowledge-graphs
last_updated: 2026-07-12
---

# Knowledge graphs

> How graphs build, stay current, and what rebuilds cost.

Each dataset can have a knowledge graph — the entity-and-relationship map that powers the Search page's visual exploration. For exploring a graph, see [Explore the knowledge graph](/docs/search/explore-the-knowledge-graph); this page covers building and maintaining one.

Graph status and controls live in the **Knowledge Graph** card on the dataset's **Overview** tab (the dataset page's tabs are Overview / Documents / QA). The card only appears once the dataset has an active strategy — a never-built dataset shows no graph card at all.

> Who can do this: dataset administrators. Everyone can view and search graphs. Note that the graph buttons and toggle are visible to all users on the dataset Overview — but running them requires the dataset administrator role, and other users' clicks are rejected by the server.

## Graphs build themselves

For search-enabled datasets, the graph builds automatically when the dataset goes live. Chat availability is never blocked by graph work — the dataset stays usable while the graph builds in the background.

After that, the graph updates automatically when documents change **only if the "Auto-update graph" toggle is on** for that dataset. With the toggle off, the card reads "Automatic graph updates disabled — the graph will not update when documents change." and you must run updates manually.

## Graph states

The Knowledge Graph card shows where things stand. A built graph shows a status line like "Graph built 10 days ago from strategy v1." along with Entities, Relations, and Communities counts.

**State** · **Meaning**

No badge  —  No graph yet — "Knowledge graph builds automatically when the dataset goes live."

Building / Updating  —  Extraction in progress — "chat remains available while this runs" (Updating shows for incremental updates)

Ready  —  Built and searchable

Stale  —  "Documents have changed since the last graph build." Updates automatically only if the auto-update toggle is on

Failed  —  "The automatic graph build did not complete. Use \"Rebuild from scratch\" or \"Update graph\" below to retry."

## Manual controls

Dataset administrators can:

- **Update graph** — an incremental update. This button only appears once a

graph already exists. The confirmation says "This applies document changes   since the last build to the existing graph. The current graph stays live   until the update completes." Confirm with **Run update**.

- **Rebuild from scratch** (labelled **Build graph** if no graph exists yet —

in that case the confirmation is titled "Build the knowledge graph?" and   confirmed with **Yes, build the graph**) — wipes and re-extracts   everything. The confirmation warns: "Expect roughly $30–150 and   minutes-to-hours depending on corpus size." and reassures that "The   dataset remains chattable during the rebuild." Confirm with   **Wipe + rebuild**. Use it only when the graph structure itself is wrong.

- **Auto-update graph toggle** — the switch at the bottom of the card that

turns automatic graph updates on or off for the dataset.

There is no way to cancel an extraction once it starts — let it finish.

## Good to know

- Graph builds require every attached document to be fully indexed. If some

aren't, the confirmation dialog stays open with "Some attached documents   aren't indexed yet." and lists the document IDs to wait for before   retrying.

- While extraction runs, the Knowledge Graph card shows the current stage —

"Pass 1 — extracting entities", "Pass 2 — extracting relations",   "Canonicalizing entities", then "Computing communities" — and refreshes   itself every 20 seconds.

- On the Search page, datasets are picked from a dropdown scope picker (the

"All datasets" button with checkbox rows), not pills. The picker's   "no graph" tag can lag well behind an actual build — a dataset may still   show "no graph" there days after its graph is Ready, even though searching   it still surfaces its graph.

All docs: https://ocho.bot/docs

---

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