Context is what allows a chat to feel like a conversation rather than a series of unrelated questions. If a visitor asks about a service and then follows up with a question about how long it takes, the word it only means something because the previous message is still in view. Without conversation history the second message is unanswerable, which is why early chatbots felt so amnesiac.
There is a second and less obvious layer. In a retrieval-based system, the passages pulled out of your own pages and uploaded files are also part of the context handed to the model at answer time. The model is not recalling your business from memory. It is reading your text, supplied fresh with each question, and composing an answer from it. That is the mechanism behind retrieval-augmented generation, and it is why the quality of your content sets the ceiling on the quality of your answers.
Context is finite, which forces choices. Very long conversations eventually exceed what can be passed to the model, and the retrieved passages compete for the same space, so a knowledge base padded with vague marketing copy squeezes out the passage that actually contained the answer. Clerkzo assembles both layers for each message and keeps the widget scoped to your business, so the context stays relevant rather than merely large.
Related terms
Browse all 142 terms- Conversation RatingA conversation rating is a simple signal, usually a thumbs up or thumbs down, that a visitor gives to a chatbot reply to indicate whether it was helpful. It is the cheapest quality feedback a chat widget can collect.
- Context WindowA context window is the maximum amount of text, measured in tokens, that an AI model can take into account when producing a single response. It covers the instructions, the retrieved source material and the conversation so far.
- Conversation FlowConversation flow is the path a chat takes from the opening message to a resolution, including the order questions are asked, the branches available and the points where the conversation can end or transfer to a human.
- Generative Engine OptimizationGenerative engine optimization, usually shortened to GEO, is the practice of structuring and writing your content so AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews can find it, understand it and cite it in their answers.