Move from a generic source list to inline citation markers that make answers easier to trust, audit, and navigate.
Source transparency is already valuable, but a flat list beneath the message is only the beginning. Inline citations embed source references directly into the agent answer so users can immediately see which claim is supported by which source.
When users read a long answer, they do not want to guess which sentence came from which document. Inline citations solve that problem elegantly. A statement about pricing, policy, or implementation can point directly to its supporting source, making the answer feel far more trustworthy and navigable.
This is especially important for:
Instead of asking users to scroll to a detached source list and infer the connection, the answer itself becomes auditable.
A user should be able to read an answer with markers such as [1] or other compact reference tokens, then click or focus them to reveal the matching source. The existing source section can still remain below the message for detailed previews, but the citations make the relationship explicit inside the body of the answer itself.
The experience should stay clean, not academic-looking. Citations must be easy to tap, keyboard accessible, and visually consistent with the rest of the widget. They should help users verify claims without making every answer feel cluttered.
Inline citations increase trust, reduce answer disputes, and make the widget more credible in high-value deployments. They also strengthen the platform story around grounded retrieval and source transparency, which matters for enterprise evaluations.
Users can quickly verify important claims, source usage becomes more understandable, and the agent feels more accountable because it visibly ties answers back to actual material.