> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://k-ai.gitbook.io/knowledge-ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://k-ai.gitbook.io/knowledge-ai/sources-and-ingestion/sources-ingestion.md).

# Overview

Sources & ingestion is how documents enter the K-AI Platform. K-AI does not require centralising the document estate — it addresses sources where they live, ingests them incrementally, preserves their native ACLs, and indexes them into the Semantic Document Layer.

## What's in this section

* **Connectors** — supported source types, one sub-page per connector. SharePoint, Confluence, Notion, Google Drive, Azure Blob Storage, Snowflake Stage, ServiceNow, generic HTTP, and the web crawler are documented in the section navigation. Start with the [SharePoint connector](/knowledge-ai/sources-and-ingestion/connectors/sharepoint.md); the others follow the same shape.
* **Document state machine** — the lifecycle of a document from registration to indexed. See [Document state machine](/knowledge-ai/sources-and-ingestion/document-state-machine.md).
* **Indexation pipeline** — what runs between source and Semantic Document Layer. See [Indexation pipeline](/knowledge-ai/sources-and-ingestion/indexation-pipeline.md).
* **Instance API** — the machine-to-machine HTTP surface for indexation control. See [Instance API overview](/knowledge-ai/sources-and-ingestion/instance-api/instance-api.md).

## Architectural placement

This section covers Layers 1 (Sources) and 2 (Ingestion & Indexing) of the [5-layer architecture](/knowledge-ai/the-k-ai-platform/architecture.md). Layer 3 (Semantic Document Layer) is the [Neural Semantic Graph](/knowledge-ai/the-k-ai-platform/neural-semantic-graph.md). Layers 4 (Governance & Quality) and 5 (Exposure) are covered by [K-AI Audit](/knowledge-ai/k-ai-audit/audit.md) and [K-AI MCP](/knowledge-ai/k-ai-mcp/mcp.md) respectively.

## Auth

The Instance API uses `instance-id` + `api-key` headers — see [Authentication — Instance API keys](/knowledge-ai/authentication/api-keys.md).

## Next steps

1. Pick a connector (e.g. [SharePoint](/knowledge-ai/sources-and-ingestion/connectors/sharepoint.md)).
2. Start an indexation via the [Orchestrator endpoint](/knowledge-ai/sources-and-ingestion/instance-api/orchestrator.md).
3. Monitor progress in the [Documents endpoint](/knowledge-ai/sources-and-ingestion/instance-api/documents.md).