---
schema_version: "1"
id: dd22d4085bc22b61c1829d1502c15af5873ea9df1b3fc27f0107f072db47d162
title: Build Trust in AI Responses with Citations
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/ai/264-0-0/generative_ai_trust_citations.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.generative_ai_trust_citations.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 4acc993f2b02679b40bba974611258a4fabff0fc760818575f433db67dc815df
description: Citations link AI-generated responses to the grounding sources that are relevant to the response. Use citations to see what information the large language model (LLM) used to generate the response, and to verify the validity of the source data. Citations help you identify potential inaccuracies or hallucinations in the generated responses, increasing your confidence in using AI tools.
products:
  - Agentforce
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Build Trust in AI Responses with Citations

Citations link AI-generated responses to the grounding sources that are relevant to the response. Use citations to see what information the large language model (LLM) used to generate the response, and to verify the validity of the source data. Citations help you identify potential inaccuracies or hallucinations in the generated responses, increasing your confidence in using AI tools.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: <strong>Enterprise</strong>, <strong>Performance</strong>, and <strong>Unlimited</strong> Editions with an Einstein for Sales, Einstein for Platform, Einstein for Service, Einstein 1 Service, or Einstein GPT Service add-on. To purchase add-ons, contact your Salesforce account executive.</td></tr></tbody></table>

## About Citations

Citations are useful for several reasons.

- Verifiability: Users can verify the accuracy and origin of the information provided by the agent.
- Trust: By providing sources, the system demonstrates that the responses are data-based and trustworthy.
- Deeper Insight: Users can explore the source material for more detailed information.

In an agent context, citations refer to the way the system references the sources of information used to generate responses or take actions. Supported sources include knowledge articles, data from PDF files, and information from external web pages.

Source URLs can be viewed through Agent Builder, [Agent API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/ai/agentforce/guide/agent-api.html), Lightning Experience, the Salesforce mobile app for Android and iOS, Enhanced Chat, and Bring Your Own Channel.

## Platform-Managed and Instructions-Based Citations

Citations can be implemented in two ways.

- **Platform-Managed Citations:** A dedicated platform service provides platform-managed citations out of the box. This service formats, displays, and links citations, ensuring a structured and consistent user experience.
- **Instructions-Based Citations:** You provide custom instructions to generate citations in prompt templates or subagents.

Platform-managed citations are available at the action level and are supported for these actions.

![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ai-generative_ai-264-0-0-production-enus/f8ef6498-d7b2-44e3-9b34-ffd5a850aae9/images/icon_note.png)

Note Platform-managed citations are only available for new agents created after May 26, 2025.

- Answer Questions with Knowledge action via Agentforce Data Library: To enable platform-based citations, see, [Show Sources for Answer Questions with Knowledge Standard Action](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.generative_ai_trust_show_citations_for_answer_questions_with_knowledge_action.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "The Answer Questions with Knowledge standard action currently supports prompt-based citations that display the source URLs at the end of the response. To include in the generated response, you must enable the option to show sources for the agent.").
- Custom actions built by using prompt templates: To enable service-managed citations for custom actions based on prompt templates, see [Configure Citations for Custom Actions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.generative_ai_trust_configure_citation_mode_custom_action.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "With citations mode, custom actions that are created by using prompt templates can be configured to show source URLs in the generated response."). To include citations for custom actions, the prompt template must include at least 1 [Einstein Search retriever](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.prompt_builder_ground_rag.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) in Data 360 improves the quality, accuracy, and relevance of your LLM-generated responses. Enhance your prompt templates using retrievers with Einstein Search. Add relevant knowledge from unstructured text sources into your LLM prompts. Retrieve knowledge from articles, emails, chat transcripts, and other sources.").
    
    ![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ai-generative_ai-264-0-0-production-enus/f8ef6498-d7b2-44e3-9b34-ffd5a850aae9/images/icon_note.png)
    
    Note Currently, inline citations aren’t available for custom actions that are based on prompt templates.
- Citations with [Apex-based](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/ai/agentforce/guide/citations.html) agent actions.

Consider these points when choosing between platform-managed and instruction-based citations.

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small ">
        <colgroup>
          <col>
          <col>
          <col>
        </colgroup>
        <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
          <tr class="">
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d133140e163">CONSIDERATION</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d133140e166">PLATFORM-MANAGED</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d133140e169">INSTRUCTION-BASED</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="CONSIDERATION" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e163 ">Citation Handling</td>

            <td data-label="PLATFORM-MANAGED" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e166 ">
              <p>Provides a structured way to handle citations with a dedicated service.</p>
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">You can
                benefit from the built-in functionality. </p>
            </td>

            <td data-label="INSTRUCTION-BASED" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e169 ">
              <p>Allows for flexibility in how citations are formatted and presented. </p>
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">Requires
                you to manually add instructions and logic for generating citations.</p>
            </td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="CONSIDERATION" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e163 ">Prompt Impact</td>

            <td data-label="PLATFORM-MANAGED" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e166 ">Reduces the need for adding specific citation instructions within prompts and
              prompt fine-tuning. Useful for minimizing prompt context/word count.</td>

            <td data-label="INSTRUCTION-BASED" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e169 ">
              <p>Can consume prompt context/word count by requiring specific citation
                instructions. </p>
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">Can require additional fine-tuning to generate citations
                consistently.</p>
            </td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="CONSIDERATION" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e163 ">Display Options</td>

            <td data-label="PLATFORM-MANAGED" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e166 ">
              <p>Are displayed in a separate Sources section at the end of the response. Inline
                citations are numbered links.</p>
              <p>Currently, inline citations aren’t available for
                custom actions that are based on prompt templates.</p>
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">If a citation involves an
                image, then it's displayed as a clickable link to the image.</p>
            </td>

            <td data-label="INSTRUCTION-BASED" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e169 ">Formatting and display are defined as part of prompt instructions, which you can
              customize.</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="CONSIDERATION" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e163 ">Large Language Model (LLM)</td>

            <td data-label="PLATFORM-MANAGED" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e166 ">Leverage a Salesforce managed fine-tuned language model.</td>

            <td data-label="INSTRUCTION-BASED" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d133140e169 ">Specific to the LLM selected by you and can vary depending on the LLM. </td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

## Example of Platform Citations

Here's an example of how platform citations are displayed.

![A screenshot shows conversations with sources section at the end of the response.](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ai-generative_ai-264-0-0-production-enus/f8ef6498-d7b2-44e3-9b34-ffd5a850aae9/generative_ai/images/citations_platform_display.png)

Additional details and metadata related to citations are stored in Data 360 DMOs as part of the audit trail data. See the Einstein Generative AI Gateway Object Record Citation Reference DMO in [Data Model for Generative AI Audit and Feedback](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.generative_ai_feedback_data_model.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Understand and analyze your Einstein generative AI audit and feedback data by using the appropriate data model objects (DMOs). Einstein generative AI Audit and Feedback data is streamed to a data lake object (DLO) in Data 360 and mapped to data model objects (DMOs).").

#### See Also

- [_Salesforce Help_: Citations in Retrievers](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_ai_citations_retriever.htm&language=en_US)
- [Build Trust in AI Responses with Citations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.generative_ai_trust_citations.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Citations link AI-generated responses to the grounding sources that are relevant to the response. Use citations to see what information the large language model (LLM) used to generate the response, and to verify the validity of the source data. Citations help you identify potential inaccuracies or hallucinations in the generated responses, increasing your confidence in using AI tools.")