How Egret Answers a Regulatory Question

When you ask Egret a regulatory question, you're not just prompting a language model. Every response is grounded in source documents — retrieved, ranked, and cited before a single word is generated. Here's exactly what happens.

Step 1: Retrieval

Before generation starts, Egret runs a hybrid retrieval pass across two sources:

Egret's regulatory library — a curated, versioned collection of frameworks for your domain. For Business Continuity (US), this includes FFIEC IT Examination Handbook, BCP standards, and related guidance.
Your organisation's private knowledge base — any internal policies, procedures, or documents your team has uploaded.

Retrieved chunks are ranked by relevance score. The top results are passed to the model as context. Each source in the response includes the originating document, an excerpt, a relevance score, and a download link to the original file.

Step 2: Choose your mode

Egret supports three query modes, and the right choice depends on what you need:

Compliance — Maximum accuracy with full source citation. The model stays close to the retrieved text and flags where sources are ambiguous. Best for audit prep, regulatory reporting, or any time the exact citation matters.
Advisory — Interpretive guidance grounded in the sources. The model draws connections and synthesises a recommendation. Best for gap analysis, planning, or understanding what a regulation means in practice.
Auto — Egret classifies your question and routes it to the appropriate mode. Good default for general use.

Step 3: The response

A compliance-mode answer to "What are the BCM governance requirements under FFIEC?" looks like this:

A structured response citing specific sections and page numbers from the FFIEC IT Examination Handbook
Source cards — each with filename, excerpt, and link to the original document
Follow-up suggestions — related questions Egret identifies as relevant next steps

Sources from your private knowledge base are distinguished from Egret's public regulatory library, so you always know which answer is grounded in your organisation's own documents.

What "insufficient context" means

If Egret cannot find enough relevant material to answer confidently, it will tell you — rather than hallucinating an answer. The response will include a context_quality.insufficient_context flag and explain what it could and could not find. This is by design: in regulated environments, a confident wrong answer is worse than an honest "I don't have enough to go on."

Try it

The Business Continuity domain is live at getegret.com. Start with a question your team has actually wrestled with — the difference between a keyword search and a cited, mode-aware answer becomes immediately clear.