---
id: agent-setup.reference-materials
title: Reference Materials
summary: Connect project knowledge, inspect indexing state, and verify the blocks available to Teammately agents.
kind: reference
product_area: agent_setup
status: stable
updated: 2026-09-07
canonical: /docs/agent-setup/reference-materials
---

# Reference Materials

## Definition

Reference Materials is the Agent Setup workspace for project knowledge that Teammately agents may use. **Materials** is the unified inventory for websites, Git repositories, and uploaded files. **Indexed Reference** shows the published reference blocks available after extraction and indexing.

Reference Materials is project understanding, not governed correctness. A manual can support an agent's reasoning or an expert Contribution without automatically becoming a policy, rubric, case, or approved statement.

## Fields, states, or lifecycle rules

- A Material identifies a source and its ingestion or freshness state.
- Websites, Git repositories, and files follow source-specific discovery and processing paths in the unified Materials inventory.
- Indexed Reference presents published blocks rather than a second editable copy of the source.
- Publication is atomic: agents should see a coherent published generation rather than a partially updated index.
- Reconnecting, refreshing, or processing a source can create a newer indexed generation. Completed Runs and Contributions keep their own recorded evidence boundaries.
- Removing a Material or source does not imply that previously materialized policies, rubrics, cases, or contribution records should be silently deleted.
- File upload acceptance depends on file type, size, content verification, and the active source-processing path.

## Materials and Indexed Reference

Use Materials to answer: which sources are present, when were they processed, and does a source need attention? Use Indexed Reference to answer: what text or blocks can agents actually retrieve now? A material can be present without the expected controlling content appearing in Indexed Reference.

When sources conflict, retain the conflict in the indexed material and resolve correctness through an expert contribution or governed policy. Do not rewrite Project Context to hide source disagreement.

{% example-demo title="Example: reference publication check" %}
A team adds a policy website and a Git repository containing operational rules. After processing, the operator opens Indexed Reference and searches for the current exception clause. The website block is current, while the repository still contains an older rule. The operator keeps both materials visible and requests an expert Contribution to establish the controlling policy.
{% /example-demo %}

## Source confidence

Code-backed: the active Agent Setup routes expose Materials and Indexed Reference, and the backend publication service supports coherent indexed-reference publication. Exact connector availability may depend on the current product configuration.

## Related task pages

{% related-card-grid title="Related task pages" %}
- [Product quickstart](/docs/quickstart)
- [Maintain Project Context](/docs/agent-setup/project-context)
- [Request an Expert Contribution](/docs/expert-contributions/request-contribution)
{% /related-card-grid %}