Build a private Q&A application with zero code - Alibaba Cloud Model Studio

Large language models (LLMs) cannot directly answer questions about private knowledge domains. However, you can use the agent application building capabilities of Alibaba Cloud Model Studio and your private documents to build a Q&A application that can answer questions about private domains without writing any code.

Important

Console restrictions: Only International Edition users who created applications before April 21, 2025 can access the Application Development tab, as shown in the following figure.
This tab contains the following features: Applications (agent application and workflow application), Components (prompt engineering and plug-in), and Data (knowledge base and application data). These are all preview features. Use them with caution in production environments.
API call limits: Only International Edition users who created applications before April 21, 2025, can call the application data, knowledge base, and prompt engineering APIs.

Performance showcase

Application without a dedicated knowledge base

Without a dedicated knowledge base, the large language model cannot accurately answer questions about 'Bailian phone'.

Application with a dedicated knowledge base

After you add a dedicated knowledge base, the large language model can accurately answer questions about 'Bailian phone'.

Step 1: Build your first Model Studio agent application (About 1 minute)

Create a blank application: Go to the My Applications page. Click Create Application. On the Agent Application tab of the dialog box that appears, click Create Now.
Select a model: Select a large language model for the application. We recommend Qwen-Max. Using a model will incur fees. Model Studio provides a limited-time free quota. To check your free quota, go to the Models page and click the card of each model.
Design the prompt: The system prompt, defines the role and tasks of the application. Set the prompt to the following text: "You are a Bailian phone shopping guide. Your task is to help customers compare phone parameters, analyze their needs, and recommend personalized suggestions."
Configure a welcome message and preset questions: Click the button in the upper-right corner. Set a welcome message for the agent and add frequently asked questions as preset questions to quickly start conversations. Welcome message: Hello, I am your shopping guide! I'm here to help you choose your ideal Bailian phone. Preset question 1: What phones do you have here? Preset question 2: Please Recommend the most cost-effective phone for me. Preset question 3: Help me choose a Bailian phone with the best camera performance for under 3,000 CNY.
Test the application: On the right, click any question to start a conversation: For example: "Help me choose a Bailian phone with the best camera performance for under 3,000 CNY." Because the application lacks knowledge about the "Bailian phone", its response is generic and may be fabricated. The next step is to configure a knowledge base.

Step 2: Build a knowledge base (About 3 minutes)

Upload knowledge documents

Go to the Application Data page and click Import Data. Model Studio provides Category Management for knowledge documents. In this tutorial, you can use the default category. After a knowledge document is uploaded, it is automatically saved to the Default Category.
You can use the provided Bailian phone specifications (Chinese).docx file. After you upload the document, click Confirm. Import Data wizard provides default configurations. In this tutorial, you do not need to change these settings. Simply upload the knowledge document.
Wait for Model Studio to complete the import. Depending on the size of the document you upload, Model Studio needs some time for parsing. This usually takes 1 to 6 minutes. Please wait patiently.

Create a knowledge base

Go to the Knowledge Base page. Click Create Knowledge Base to build your dedicated knowledge base.
Enter a Name and click Next Step. In this tutorial, the knowledge base name is set to "Bailian phone". Create Knowledge Base wizard provides default configurations. In this tutorial, you do not need to change these settings.
Under Select Category, select Default Category and click Next Step. In this step, select the document for the knowledge base. The Create Knowledge Base wizard provides default configurations. In this tutorial, you do not need to change these settings.
Select Intelligent Splitting and click Import to create the knowledge base. "Intelligent Splitting" is a system-predefined chunking policy. Evaluations show that it provides the best retrieval results for most documents.
Wait for Model Studio to complete the parsing. Depending on the size of the document you upload, Alibaba Cloud Model Studio needs some time to parse the content. This usually takes 1 to 2 minutes. Please wait patiently.

Step 3: Add the knowledge base to the application and publish the application (About 1 minute)

Go to the My Applications page. Find the application that you created. click Configure to go to the application configuration interface.
Click + next to Knowledge > Document, and then add the knowledge base to complete the configuration.
On the right, click any question to start a conversation: For example: "Help me choose a Bailian phone with the best camera performance for under 3,000 CNY." After you enable retrieval-augmented generation, the Model Studio application can accurately answer your shopping questions.
Publish the application: After you confirm that the changes are correct, click Publish.

Step 4: Test the application (About 3 minutes)

Alibaba Cloud Model Studio provides a test webpage for your application that you can share for small-scale testing.

Get the test web page: In the agent application that you created, click Publish to go to the Publish Channels tab. Click Create to the right of Official Website. The system automatically generates a shareable link for the application's web page.

Share the test page: You can click the icon to copy the link to the application's web page. Share the web page with other accounts in the same workspace, such as RAM users, for testing. Conversations initiated through the shared link consume the application developer's token resources.
Note that the shared link cannot be accessed by other Alibaba Cloud accounts.

What to do next

To learn about prompt writing, plug-ins, publishing channels, and more application features, see Agent application.
To integrate more external tools or enable the application to automatically complete complex tasks and business processes, see Workflow application. You can also see Application types to learn about feature comparisons and scenarios.
To programmatically develop a highly customized RAG application with complex interaction logic, see Assistant API.