Example: Knowledge Distillation

Extract conclusions from one or more knowledge bases, organize them by topic, and retain source references and uncertainties.

For example, compare financial reports to analyze changes in revenue, profitability, and risk over time.

The output uses one directory per topic and one page per conclusion:

text

revenue-quality/
  growth-shifted-from-volume-to-pricing.md
  overseas-growth-offset-domestic-slowdown.md
profitability/
  margin-recovered-but-cash-conversion-weakened.md
risk/
  customer-concentration-increased.md

This is a shape example only — the real topics and findings come from the domain you supply. Note that page names state the conclusion itself (growth-shifted-from-volume-to-pricing), not a source title (q2-report-summary).

Skill source: examples/compile/ov-compile-skills/knowledge-distillation

Check the prerequisites and run these commands from the OpenViking repository root. Replace the source directory with your own material.

Step 1: Prepare the sources

bash

ov add-resource ./finance-reports --to viking://resources/finance-reports --wait
ov ls -r viking://resources/finance-reports

Step 2: Add the Skill

bash

ov add-skill examples/compile/ov-compile-skills/knowledge-distillation -p viking://agent/skills --wait
ov skills list
# → viking://agent/skills/knowledge-distillation

Step 3: Run compile

Spell out the analytical question, comparison dimensions, baseline, and scope in --instruction — it directly sets the direction of the distillation:

bash

ov compile \
  --from viking://resources/finance-reports \
  --to viking://resources/finance-insights \
  --skill viking://agent/skills/knowledge-distillation \
  --instruction "Compare the last three years of reports; obtain changes and drivers in revenue quality, profitability, and risk"

--from accepts multiple sources for cross-knowledge-base comparison:

bash

ov compile \
  --from viking://resources/finance-2024,viking://resources/finance-2025 \
  --to viking://resources/finance-insights \
  --skill viking://agent/skills/knowledge-distillation \
  --instruction "Compare the two yearly knowledge bases; surface changes and structural differences in key metrics"

The command returns a task_id immediately:

bash

ov task status cmp_01abc      # progress and final result
ov task cancel cmp_01abc      # cooperative cancel

Step 4: Inspect the output

List the output first, then read a generated conclusion page. The filename below is illustrative:

bash

ov tree viking://resources/finance-insights
ov read viking://resources/finance-insights/revenue-quality/growth-shifted-from-volume-to-pricing.md

By default no index.md is created — a distillation is itself a set of conclusions, unless --instruction explicitly asks for a navigation page. Re-running refreshes the same analysis page and time-bounds any conclusion that may change.

Example: Knowledge Distillation ​

Step 1: Prepare the sources ​

Step 2: Add the Skill ​

Step 3: Run compile ​

Step 4: Inspect the output ​

Related docs ​

Example: Knowledge Distillation

Step 1: Prepare the sources

Step 2: Add the Skill

Step 3: Run compile

Step 4: Inspect the output

Related docs