Configure artifact formats

In Pinecone Nexus, curation writes each artifact type in one of two formats, set per type in the manifest: markdown for prose, or sqlite for rows in a queryable table. You choose the format in the manifest you send when you create or update a context.

Markdown artifacts

markdown is the default. Curation writes one prose file per artifact, embedded for semantic retrieval, so it fits knowledge that reads as text: summaries, concepts, and per-document notes. A markdown artifact type needs a name, a kind, a scope, and a description that steers what curation extracts:

{
  "name": "Concept",
  "kind": "topic",
  "scope": "corpus",
  "description": "A recurring concept or theme that appears across the corpus."
}

Omitting format defaults to markdown. See artifact kinds for the kinds a type can take.

SQLite artifacts

sqlite writes rows into the context’s structured database instead of prose, so the type becomes a table the query agent reads with SQL for exact counts, filters, and joins. Set format to sqlite and declare the table’s columns:

{
  "name": "Meeting Log",
  "kind": "entity",
  "scope": "corpus",
  "format": "sqlite",
  "description": "One row per meeting: the body that met, the date, the type, and who chaired.",
  "columns": [
    { "name": "body", "type": "TEXT", "description": "The board, committee, or team that met, as a short canonical name." },
    { "name": "meeting_date", "type": "TEXT", "description": "The meeting date in ISO format, YYYY-MM-DD." },
    { "name": "year", "type": "INTEGER", "description": "The calendar year of the meeting." },
    { "name": "chair", "type": "TEXT", "description": "Full name of whoever chaired the meeting." }
  ],
  "natural_key": ["body", "meeting_date"]
}

Each column has a name, a type (TEXT, INTEGER, REAL, or NUMERIC), and a description that steers what curation extracts into it.
natural_key names the columns that identify a row, so re-curating a source upserts its rows instead of duplicating them.

Because the table is queryable, a sqlite type answers questions prose can’t, like “how many meetings did each chair run this year?” or “who was present at a given meeting?” To answer across tables, define a second table that shares columns, so queries can join the two:

{
  "name": "Meeting Attendance",
  "kind": "entity",
  "scope": "corpus",
  "format": "sqlite",
  "description": "One row per person per meeting, taken from the attendance roster.",
  "columns": [
    { "name": "person", "type": "TEXT", "description": "The attendee's full name, spelled the same way wherever it appears, so counts and joins line up." },
    { "name": "body", "type": "TEXT", "description": "The body that met, matching Meeting Log." },
    { "name": "meeting_date", "type": "TEXT", "description": "The meeting date in ISO format, matching Meeting Log." },
    { "name": "status", "type": "TEXT", "description": "Either 'present' or 'absent', from the roster." }
  ],
  "natural_key": ["person", "body", "meeting_date"]
}

Set the formats through the API

Put your artifact types in a context’s manifest under curate.artifacts.artifact_types, then curate. The walkthrough below seeds the Concept and Meeting Log types, and you add more the same way. These steps use the data-plane base URL and session token from Authentication.

Add at least one source to the context before you curate. See the quickstart for creating a context and adding sources.

Write the manifest to the context

Send the manifest when you create the context, or update an existing one with PUT /contexts/{slug}. This example seeds both a markdown type and a SQLite table at creation:

curl

curl -fsS -X POST "$NEXUS_BASE_URL/contexts" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXUS_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07' \
  -d '{
    "slug": "board-minutes",
    "name": "Board minutes",
    "manifest": {
      "curate": {
        "artifacts": {
          "enabled": true,
          "artifact_types": [
            { "name": "Concept", "kind": "topic", "scope": "corpus",
              "description": "A recurring concept or theme across the minutes." },
            { "name": "Meeting Log", "kind": "entity", "scope": "corpus", "format": "sqlite",
              "description": "One row per meeting: body, date, and chair.",
              "columns": [
                { "name": "body", "type": "TEXT", "description": "The body that met." },
                { "name": "meeting_date", "type": "TEXT", "description": "ISO date, YYYY-MM-DD." },
                { "name": "chair", "type": "TEXT", "description": "Who chaired the meeting." }
              ],
              "natural_key": ["body", "meeting_date"] }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }'

Curate the context

Curation reads the sources and builds the artifacts your manifest defines. An empty body runs the first curate:

curl

curl -fsS -X POST "$NEXUS_BASE_URL/contexts/board-minutes/curate" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXUS_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07' \
  -d '{}'

After a later manifest change, pass {"force": true} to rebuild everything under the new manifest. Curation runs as a background task, so query the context once it finishes. See How curation works.

Query across both formats

A query reads both formats: the prose Concept artifacts semantically, and the Meeting Log table with SQL for exact answers.

curl

curl -fsS -X POST "$NEXUS_BASE_URL/query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXUS_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07' \
  -d '{"scope": ["board-minutes"], "ask": "How many meetings did each chair run this year?"}' \
| jq -r '.output[].content[].text'

Output

Jordan Lee chaired 8 meetings, Priya Shah chaired 5, and Marcus Cole chaired 3.

The counts come from the Meeting Log table, so they’re exact rather than estimated from prose.

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Configure artifact formats

Markdown artifacts

SQLite artifacts

Set the formats through the API

​Markdown artifacts

​SQLite artifacts

​Set the formats through the API

Markdown artifacts

SQLite artifacts

Set the formats through the API