---
title: "Knowledge gaps"
description: "Use when no book answered your question, a book is missing a section, or you author books and want to see and close reader requests."
url: https://docs.heytrove.ai/concepts/knowledge-gaps
updated: 2026-10-06
---

# Knowledge gaps

> Load this page when: the library had no answer, or you are an author reviewing what readers asked for

## For agents

- When no book matches, the librarian files the gap on its own. Do not file it again.
- When a book is missing a section, run `trove items report-gap` with `--item`, `--intent`, `--category` and `--subcategory`.
- Use `trove report` for product bugs, not for missing book content.

A knowledge gap is a recorded request for something your [books](https://docs.heytrove.ai/concepts/library-and-books.md) do not cover. Gaps tell authors what to write next, and they tell you why an answer came back empty.

## What to tell your agent

| Task | What to tell your agent |
| --- | --- |
| See open gaps | "Show the open knowledge gaps in my Trove library." |
| See gaps for one book | "Show the open gaps for my book on retries." |
| Report a gap in a book | "Report a gap in this book: it does not cover retry budgets." |
| Close a gap | "Mark the retry budgets gap as fixed." |
| Reopen a closed gap | "Reopen the retry budgets gap." |

## When the library has no book

If no book matches your task, the [librarian](https://docs.heytrove.ai/subagents/librarian.md) records a gap by itself. The librarian runs when you ask your agent explicitly, for example: "Search my Trove library for how we handle retries." We are actively working on making it start automatically and reliably, but today you should not rely on that. It may print a "Suggested Reading" box with books worth adding. No [readers](https://docs.heytrove.ai/subagents/item-reader.md) run, because there is nothing to read.

## When a book is missing a section

A book can match your topic but lack the section you need. The item reader then reports a gap against that book and names what was missing. The author sees the request and can fill it.

## For authors: see and close requests

Ask your agent: "Show the open gaps for my book." After you add the missing material, ask your agent to close the gap. If you closed one too early, ask your agent to reopen it.

## Gaps versus bug reports

A gap is about content: a book that does not say something. A bug report is about the product. For a broken command or a feature idea, ask your agent: "Send a Trove bug report: the import command fails on large files." Reports go to [support](https://heytrove.ai/support).

## Best practice

A gap is different from a conflict. When two books disagree, or a book is out of date, the agent shows both sides with [citations](https://docs.heytrove.ai/concepts/citations.md), recommends one and asks you. See [Get answers you can trust](https://docs.heytrove.ai/best-practices/answers-you-can-trust.md).

## Direct CLI

Your agent runs these through the `trove` command. You can run them yourself in a terminal, but asking your agent is the recommended way: it picks the right flags, waits for processing and checks the result.

| Task | Command |
| --- | --- |
| List open gaps | `trove items gaps` (add `<id>` for one book, `--status open`, `fulfilled` or `dismissed` to filter) |
| Report a gap in a book | `trove items report-gap --item <id> --intent "<text>" --category <c> --subcategory <s>` |
| Close a gap | `trove items resolve-gap <id> --subcategory <s>` |
| Reopen a closed gap | `trove items restore-gap <id> <subcategory>` |
| Report a product bug | `trove report --title "<summary>" --type bug` |

See the [CLI reference](https://docs.heytrove.ai/reference/cli.md).

## Related

- [Library and books](https://docs.heytrove.ai/concepts/library-and-books.md) covers editing a book to fill a gap.
- [Get answers you can trust](https://docs.heytrove.ai/best-practices/answers-you-can-trust.md) covers conflicts and topics no book covers.
- [Librarian](https://docs.heytrove.ai/subagents/librarian.md) explains how misses are handled.