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Company Knowledge is a document library where you keep the reference material you want Windy to draw on—things like leveling frameworks, policies, playbooks, and product overviews. Windy uses these documents as background context so its answers, 1:1 support, and review help stay grounded in how your company actually works.

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Overview

Company Knowledge lives at Settings → Knowledge in the Windmill Dashboard. Instead of a single text box, it’s a full library: you organize documents into folders, control who can see each top-level folder, and open each document in a focused editor. Each knowledge document has three parts:
  • Title — what the document is (e.g., Engineering Leveling Framework)
  • When to use — a short note telling Windy when this knowledge is relevant
  • Content — the body of the document, written in a rich-text editor
Where did company name, description, and values go? They moved out of Company Knowledge into their own settings pages:
  • Company name, description, and logo now live on Settings → Company info (https://app.gowindmill.com/COMPANY/config/company-info).
  • Company values now live on Settings → Company values (https://app.gowindmill.com/COMPANY/config/company-values). See the Company Values guide.
Company Knowledge is now dedicated to your document library.

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Where Company Knowledge appears

After you add documents, Windy uses them as background context across Windmill. Knowledge can shape answers when you ask Windy questions, provide context for 1:1s, and support review workflows. In performance reviews, Company Knowledge can be referenced directly in self, peer, and upward review chats. Manager reviews can also use it as a framework for AI-suggested observations and draft answers.

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The knowledge library

Open Settings → Knowledge to see your library. Documents and folders appear in a table with these columns:
  • File — the document or folder name
  • Type — either Folder or Document
  • Access — who can see the item (see Sharing and access)
  • Usage (7d) — how often Windy has drawn on the item over the last 7 days
  • Last updated — when the item last changed
Use the search box at the top of the library to filter by title. Folders expand and collapse in place, so you can drill into a folder without leaving the page.

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Adding knowledge

1

Open the knowledge library

Go to Settings → Knowledge.
2

Click Add knowledge

Use the Add knowledge button in the toolbar. Give the document a Title, a short When to use this note so Windy knows when the document is relevant, and choose the Location (which folder it lives in).
3

Write the content

After you create the document, it opens in the full-page editor. Add the body in the rich-text Content editor.

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The document editor

Opening a document (via Add knowledge or by choosing Open on any row) takes you to a full-page editor at https://app.gowindmill.com/COMPANY/config/knowledge/DOCUMENT_ID. The editor includes:
  • Breadcrumbs showing where the document lives in your folder structure
  • An editable Title at the top
  • A When to use field (placeholder: “Describe when Windy should reach for this knowledge…”) that tells Windy when to reach for this document
  • A collaborative rich-text Content editor for the body
Your changes save automatically—there’s no Save button. A saved/synced indicator shows when your edits are stored, and multiple people can edit the same document at once.

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Organizing knowledge

Keep your library tidy as it grows:
  • Create folder — use the Create folder button in the toolbar to group related documents.
  • Move — drag a document into a folder, or use the row’s Move to… action to pick a destination.
  • Rename — use the row’s Rename action to change a document’s name.
  • Delete — use the row’s Delete action to remove a document or folder.
You can move and rename documents. Folders can be created and deleted, but they aren’t moved or renamed the same way—organize by moving the documents inside them.

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Sharing and access

Access in Company Knowledge is set at the folder level, and specifically on top-level folders. Think of a top-level folder like a shared, locked drive: whatever access you set on it applies to everything inside—its sub-folders and every document within them inherit that same access. You don’t share individual documents or sub-folders; they follow the top-level folder they live in. To change who can see a set of documents, use the Share action on a top-level folder and choose who should have access. The Access column summarizes who can see each item using labels like:
  • Everyone — everyone in your company can read it
  • A summary such as Managers · 2 groups · 1 person — access limited to specific roles, groups, and people
  • Restricted — no company-wide read access is set; only people who can manage knowledge can see it

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Usage

The Usage tab (Settings → Knowledge → Usage) shows an Activity feed of when and where Windy drew on your knowledge. You can:
  • Toggle the time range between 7 days and 30 days
  • Filter by source surface (where the knowledge was used) and search by document title
A banner reminds you: “You’re only seeing usage entries for files you can edit.” Usage is scoped to the documents you have access to manage.

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Who can edit Company Knowledge

By default, only Admins and HR Admins can add, edit, and organize Company Knowledge documents and view the Usage tab. The same two roles manage Company info (name, description, and logo) and Company values. Workspaces can also grant these abilities to custom roles. Everyone else can benefit from the context Windy pulls from knowledge without being able to change it.

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FAQs

If you add a career leveling framework (or any rubric, job description, or competency matrix) as a knowledge document, Windy uses it as general company context when drafting answers. It is not automatically injected as explicit criteria into 1:1 prep or the review packet.Where it surfaces:
  • Self reviews — When Windy guides employees through self review questions in Slack, it references the leveling framework to ask follow-up questions that help employees describe their impact against the expectations for their level.
  • Manager reviews — When Windy generates AI-suggested observations and draft answers in the review packet, it uses the leveling framework as context so suggestions are framed against the expectations for the employee’s level.
  • 1:1s — Windy uses the leveling framework as general background context that can show up in Catch Me Up summaries, suggested topics, and Windy chat about an employee. It is not automatically inserted into the shared 1:1 agenda or 1:1 prep templates.
To make level expectations show up explicitly in a workflow, also reference the framework where it should appear:
  • For reviews: link the leveling rubric or quote it directly in your self review or manager review questions.
  • For 1:1s: add career-growth sections to your 1:1 templates that reference the framework.
A good When to use note on the document (e.g., “Reference when discussing an engineer’s level, scope, or promotion readiness”) helps Windy reach for it at the right moments.
The When to use note tells Windy when a document is relevant—it’s a short cue Windy reads to decide whether to reach for the document in a given moment. The Content is the actual body Windy draws on once it decides the document applies. A vague or empty When to use note means Windy may miss the document even when it would help, so keep it specific (e.g., “Reference when discussing an engineer’s level, scope, or promotion readiness”).
Company Knowledge documents are written in the rich-text Content editor, so you can paste formatted content directly. For complex files like spreadsheets, converting to clean Markdown first usually preserves structure best.Upload your file to Claude or ChatGPT and use this prompt:
Review the output, then paste it into the Content editor of a knowledge document.
Organizing the framework by level works best. Most competency frameworks live in spreadsheets, and a direct copy/paste usually loses the structure Windy needs to reason about expectations per level. Reformat the framework so each level and competency is clearly delineated before adding it as a document.Recommended structure:
  • A top-level heading for the framework (e.g., Engineering Competency Framework)
  • A section per level (L1 — Associate, L2 — Engineer, … L10 — Fellow)
  • Within each level, a subsection or bulleted list per competency (e.g., Technical Skills, Communication, Leadership, Impact) with concrete expectations
Tips:
  • If your source is a spreadsheet, convert it to clean Markdown first (see the FAQ above), then paste into the Content editor. Level-by-level sections give Windy stronger signal than a wide table.
  • Keep expectations specific and observable so Windy can reference them in self review follow-ups and manager review suggestions.
  • Reference the framework explicitly in your self review or manager review questions if you want level expectations to surface as explicit criteria in a cycle.
Two things most often cause this. First, check the document’s When to use note—if it’s missing or vague, Windy may not recognize when the document is relevant, so make it specific. Second, check the Access on the document’s top-level folder: Windy only draws on documents for people who can see them, so a Restricted folder won’t surface for everyone. You can confirm whether a document is being used from the Usage tab.