The Source layer is your own paperwork: the price list, the templates, the measurements, the approved answers. It is the only layer that feels like work, which is exactly why it gets skipped, and skipping it is the single biggest reason businesses try AI, get generic rubbish back, and conclude the technology is not for them.
Key takeaways
- Source is the highest-impact layer in the Context Stack.
- An assistant with no source material will produce a plausible answer, because that is what you asked for.
- Two kinds of source: standing material that rarely changes, and job material that changes every time.
- Two hours writing down prices, inclusions and your ten most common answers moves more businesses from failure to success than any change of tool.
- The material you build here also makes the business easier to hand over, staff and sell.
The two kinds of source
| Kind | What it is | How often it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Standing | Price list, service list, inclusions, exclusions, templates, standard answers, tone examples | Quarterly at most |
| Job | Site notes, measurements, the enquiry email, this week's figures, the client's brief | Every run |
Standing material lives in the Stack permanently. Job material gets pasted in each time. Most of the effort is building the standing set once.
What to gather first
For a quoting Stack: current price list, standard inclusions and exclusions, two quotes you were happy with, and the measurement format you use.
For an enquiry Stack: your ten most common questions with your approved answers, fees, hours, location, what to bring.
For a reporting Stack: last month's report, the figures source, and the definitions of each number so nothing gets renamed halfway through the year.
Why it changes everything
An assistant given a price list writes your prices. Given none, it writes a price, because you asked for a quote and producing one is the job you set. People call this the AI lying. It is not lying. It is answering with nothing to answer from.
The same mechanic explains the generic-writing complaint. With no material of yours in the request, the only thing available to write from is the average of everything ever published, which is the precise definition of generic.
Confidentiality
Keep customer, patient, account and payment detail out of anything you are building or testing with. Use a de-identified version of a real job so the structure stays honest while the identifying detail goes. Standing material such as prices and templates carries no personal information and is safe to use freely. How to prepare safe examples.
Common mistakes
Describing the material instead of supplying it. "Use our usual pricing" gives the assistant nothing. Attach the list.
Out-of-date material. An old price list produces confidently wrong quotes, which is worse than no quote.
Too much. Twenty documents dilutes the request. Supply what the task needs.
No tone example. One piece of your own writing does more for voice than any instruction about being friendly and professional.
Where it sits in the Stack
Source is layer three, and it carries the weight. Read the full Context Stack.
Bring your paperwork and build it in the room: a full day at Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel, A$495 excluding GST, capped at 15 people. See the workshop, or enquire about onsite team training.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as source material?
Anything your business already holds in writing that the task depends on: prices, services, inclusions, exclusions, templates, past examples, measurements, approved answers and this job's notes.
Why does AI invent prices and details?
Because it was asked to produce a document and given nothing factual to build it from. Attaching the real material fixes it immediately. See the full diagnostic.
What if our prices are not written down anywhere?
Then that is the first job, and it is worth doing whether or not you ever use AI. An afternoon on prices, inclusions and exclusions raises your readiness score more than any other single action. Score your readiness.
Is it safe to upload our documents?
Standing business material such as price lists and templates is generally low risk. Customer, patient and payment records are not. Decide the boundary once and write it down. How to set team rules.
How much material is too much?
If a document does not affect the output of this task, leave it out. More context is not better context.
How often should you refresh it?
Whenever prices, services or standard answers change. A stale Source layer is the most common cause of a workflow quietly going wrong months after it was built.