Auto-retrain
Every time you change the knowledge base — uploading a file, saving a FAQ pair, running a website crawl, or updating opening hours — Costello automatically queues a retrain. Once the retrain completes, the AI uses the updated knowledge in all future conversations.
How long does retraining take?
Retraining is fast for most changes. File uploads and FAQ edits are usually live in under a minute. Website crawls take longer because they fetch each page first.
While retraining is in progress, you'll see a "Processing…" badge in the Knowledge Base section of the dashboard. Costello keeps answering messages during the retrain using the previous knowledge — it doesn't go offline.
Once the badge disappears, the update is live.
What triggers a retrain
A retrain is queued automatically when you:
- Upload or replace a file
- Delete a file
- Add, edit, or delete a FAQ pair
- Run or re-run a website crawl
- Update opening hours or service entries
If you make several changes in quick succession, they're batched into a single retrain rather than one per change.
Changes are applied automatically
There is no manual retrain button. Every time you save a FAQ pair, upload or replace a file, or finish a website crawl, Costello detects the change and queues a retrain automatically — no action is needed on your part.
When changes don't seem to take effect
If a change you made isn't reflected in Costello's replies, check:
- The "Processing…" badge has cleared. If it's still showing, the retrain is still in progress. Wait a few more minutes.
- The change was actually saved. Open the knowledge base source you edited and confirm the new content is showing.
- Test with a fresh conversation. Existing conversations may reflect the previous knowledge if they started before the retrain completed. Start a new test conversation to see the updated behaviour.
If the issue persists after a completed retrain, submit a support case →.