Define a query filter for Knowledge base articles Genius Results

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated July 25, 2026
  • 1 minute to read

    • Define a Java regular expression pattern that a search must match to be eligible for triggering Knowledge base articles Genius Results. Searches that don't match this pattern don't return Genius Result answers from Knowledge base articles Genius Results.

    Before you begin

    The ServiceNow Otto for AI Search ServiceNow® Store application must be installed on your instance. For details on installing this application, see Install ServiceNow Otto for AI Search.

    Make sure that you're familiar with Java's regular expression pattern syntax. To learn about the regular expression pattern syntax, see the Javadoc for the java.regex.util.Pattern class.

    Role required: admin

    About this task

    Knowledge base articles Genius Results send eligible knowledge article search results to the LLM for answer generation.

    By default, the system only sends knowledge article results to the LLM when the search satisfies all of these conditions.
    • The search application is Service Portal, Virtual Agent, Employee Center, or global search.
    • The user's session language is English.
    • The search contains two or more terms.
    • The search matches the Java regular expression pattern defined by the sn_ais_assist.u_question_regex system property's value. This system property has no value set in the base system, so by default all search queries satisfy this condition.

    You can customize the pattern match condition by defining your own Java regular expression pattern for use by Knowledge base articles Genius Result configurations.

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to the System Property [sys_properties] table's list view.
      1. Select All.
      2. In the Filter field, enter sys_properties.list.
      3. Press Enter.
    2. Open the record for the sn_ais_assist.u_question_regex system property by selecting it from the list.
      If the system prompts you to change the application scope so that you can edit the record, select the provided link.
    3. In the system property's Value field, enter a Java regular expression pattern that you want Knowledge base articles search queries to match.
      The Java regular expression match is case-insensitive. As an example, to restrict Knowledge base articles answer expansion to search queries that start with a question keyword, you can set the property's value to ^(what|where|when|why|who|whom|which|how)\b.
    4. Select Update.

    Result

    Knowledge base articles Genius Results don't send knowledge article search results to the LLM for Knowledge base articles answer generation unless the search query matches your Java regular expression pattern.