---
title: "Data source"
canonical: https://replypen.com/glossary/data-source
description: "In ReplyPen, a data source is anything ReplyPen reads to write a Draft."
question: "What is a data source in ReplyPen?"
author: "ReplyPen team"
published: 2026-09-30
operator: ProBackup BV (Hasselt, Belgium)
---

# What is a data source in ReplyPen?

In ReplyPen, a data source is anything ReplyPen reads to write a Draft. That covers the replies you already sent from your mailbox, your website, your help center, and tools you connect such as Shopify, Stripe or HubSpot. ReplyPen only reads its data sources. It never changes anything in them.

Data sources are what make a Draft about your business rather than about businesses in general. They
are ReplyPen's form of [grounding](https://replypen.com/glossary/grounding.md).

## Why it matters

A reply is only as accurate as the facts behind it. Past replies show how you answered a question
before; the website and help center hold your policies, prices and how-to steps; a connected tool
holds details a page cannot, such as the status of one order. The more of the right sources
ReplyPen can read, the fewer Drafts need a fact corrected.

Each Draft's [Check note](https://replypen.com/glossary/check-note.md) names the sources it relied on, which also shows
when a source is outdated: fix the source, and later Drafts improve with it.

## An example

A customer asks whether a product is back in stock. With only the website, the Draft can say what
the product page says. With the shop connected as well, it can also read what the shop system says
about that product.

Which sources are supported and how to add them: [data sources](https://replypen.com/product/data-sources.md).

## Related

- [Grounding](https://replypen.com/glossary/grounding.md): Grounding means an AI system bases its answer on specific source material, such as your help articles, website pages, past replies or records, instead of on what it absorbed during training.
- [Help center](https://replypen.com/glossary/help-center.md): A help center is a public website of articles that answer customer questions: how to use a product, shipping and return policies, billing, troubleshooting.
- [Check note](https://replypen.com/glossary/check-note.md): A Check note is the short internal note ReplyPen places with each Draft, listing what it relied on: the help articles, website pages and past emails behind the reply.