> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.answerwithbooks.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Combine and update guides

> Build one guide from several sources and add material as your work develops.

A guide can draw on several books, papers, or your own documents. Keep related sources together when you want your agent to compare their ideas and apply them to one problem.

Each source keeps its own references. Combining sources does not mean they agree: the guide should distinguish shared ideas, different assumptions, and conflicting recommendations.

## Create one guide

Tell your agent:

```text theme={null}
Create one organizational-design guide from these files. Keep each author's claims and references separate, and explain where their recommendations differ.
```

Choose [managed generation](/guide/hosted-processing) to have Answer with Books process the sources in the background, or [bring your own agent](/guide/own-agent) to generate locally using your agent's model access.

Managed intake accepts up to ten files, a folder, or a quoted glob. Files create separate books unless you explicitly request one combined guide. Your agent shows the spending limit before starting new hosted generation.

<Accordion title="Managed CLI example">
  Use the [CLI prefix](/guide/cli) followed by:

  ```text theme={null}
  upload ./sources --combine "Organizational design" --json
  ```

  Review and accept the returned quote before processing. Keep the originals: extraction may miss scanned pages or complex formatting.
</Accordion>

## Choose in the upload dialog

<Note>
  Select multiple files in the upload dialog to choose one guide or separate books.
</Note>

After selecting two or more files, choose **Separate books** or **One guide**. For one guide, enter a title. The upload keeps the selected originals and their individual references together, then opens one spending-limit review. Generation starts only after you accept that limit.

A combined upload supports text-readable sources totalling up to 50 MB. Kindle files and PDFs requiring structured processing need separate processing or a suitable converted source. If one source cannot be read, the combined upload stops so your guide is not silently missing a source.

Your agent offers the same choice when you provide multiple files. If you have already asked for one guide or separate books, it keeps your choice.

## Add to an existing local guide

<Note>
  Local multi-source creation and incremental updates require CLI 0.6.0 or later.
</Note>

Tell your agent:

```text theme={null}
Add this new source to my existing organizational-design guide. Keep the earlier notes and citations, update the combined explanation, and update the installed skill when it is ready.
```

The agent uses the saved Answer with Books workspace. Keep that workspace after the first conversion; the installed skill alone does not contain the processing history needed to continue it.

Adding a source:

* Reuses the existing accepted notes and preserves their source line references.
* Processes and checks the new material.
* Rebuilds the combined explanation, glossary and indexes.
* Keeps the same guide identity and updates the same installed skill.
* Saves the revision in a new workspace directory, leaving the previous version usable.

Add one source per update. Finish the current revision before adding the next. An identical source is rejected rather than processed again. A guide supports up to ten sources.

<Accordion title="CLI examples">
  Create a new guide from multiple sources:

  ```text theme={null}
  local prepare ./sources --combine "Organizational design" --output ./organization-guide
  ```

  Add a source to a completed guide:

  ```text theme={null}
  local add ./organization-guide ./new-source.pdf --output ./organization-guide-v2
  local next ./organization-guide-v2
  ```

  Your agent completes the usual `local next` / `local respond` cycle in the new directory. Once ready:

  ```text theme={null}
  local install ./organization-guide-v2
  ```

  These are CLI arguments, not standalone shell commands. Use the version 0.6.0 [CLI prefix](/guide/cli).
</Accordion>

## Update a managed book or guide

For a guide already processed on Answer with Books, ask your agent to add a source to that guide. Managed append/replace operations create a new revision and require their own spending-limit approval. Append preserves earlier source references; replacement processes the replacement source.

```text theme={null}
upload ./new-source.pdf --book BOOK_ID --revision append --json
```

Add one file per managed revision. Review its quote before starting paid work.

## Use the result

For a guide in your connected private library, your agent retrieves relevant methods and source excerpts, then applies them to your task. The server does not execute a skill or write your answer. You do not need to install every guide locally.

For device-only work, install the finished guide as one skill. Ask your agent to use it by name; some agents need a new session to discover an installation.

Private-library sync of a newly completed local workspace is available in CLI 0.6.0 after connecting your account. **Private-library sync is a one-time handoff; later local revisions stay local.** Continue using updated local guides locally; do not upload them as new books and assume they updated the existing hosted guide.


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