|
| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: "Advanced RAG Search" |
| 3 | +description: "Advanced retrieval techniques including reranking, hybrid search, HyDE, and multi-query" |
| 4 | +--- |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +# Advanced RAG Search |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +The RAG system includes several advanced retrieval techniques that improve search accuracy and recall. These are enabled by default and can be configured via environment variables. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +## Overview |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +| Feature | Purpose | Improvement | |
| 13 | +|---------|---------|-------------| |
| 14 | +| **Reranker** | Cross-encoder relevance scoring | +30-40% accuracy | |
| 15 | +| **Hybrid Search** | BM25 + dense vector fusion | +20% recall | |
| 16 | +| **HyDE** | Hypothetical document expansion | Better for short queries | |
| 17 | +| **Multi-Query** | Query variant generation | Covers more interpretations | |
| 18 | +| **Query Classifier** | Adaptive retrieval routing | Right strategy per query | |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +## Search Pipeline |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +``` |
| 23 | +Query → Query Classifier → [HyDE?] → [Multi-Query?] → Hybrid Search → Reranker → Results |
| 24 | + ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ |
| 25 | + Type: factual Expand 3 variants Dense+BM25 Cross-encoder |
| 26 | + conceptual short merged RRF top-k |
| 27 | +``` |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +--- |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +## Reranker |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | +Cross-encoder reranking improves retrieval accuracy by 30-40% by using a more precise (but slower) model to score candidates. |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +### How It Works |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +1. **Initial retrieval**: Bi-encoder (fast, approximates relevance) returns top-20 |
| 38 | +2. **Reranking**: Cross-encoder (slow, precise) scores each candidate |
| 39 | +3. **Final results**: Top-10 by cross-encoder score |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +### When Reranking Helps |
| 42 | + |
| 43 | +- **High-precision requirements** - Need the most relevant results |
| 44 | +- **Complex queries** - Multiple concepts or ambiguous terms |
| 45 | +- **Production systems** - "Never skip reranking for production RAG" |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +### Configuration |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +```bash |
| 50 | +# Enable/disable reranking (default: true) |
| 51 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_ENABLED=true |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +# Cross-encoder model |
| 54 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_MODEL=BAAI/bge-reranker-base |
| 55 | + |
| 56 | +# Candidates to rerank (default: 20) |
| 57 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_TOP_K=20 |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +# Final results after reranking (default: 10) |
| 60 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_FINAL_K=10 |
| 61 | + |
| 62 | +# Provider: local, openrouter, cohere (default: local) |
| 63 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_PROVIDER=local |
| 64 | +``` |
| 65 | + |
| 66 | +--- |
| 67 | + |
| 68 | +## Hybrid Search |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | +Combines vector similarity (dense) with keyword matching (sparse/BM25) for better recall, especially for: |
| 71 | + |
| 72 | +- **Acronyms and proper nouns** - "GPT-4" vs "GPT" and "4" |
| 73 | +- **Exact phrase matching** - "machine learning" as phrase |
| 74 | +- **Rare terms** - Not well-represented in embedding space |
| 75 | + |
| 76 | +### How It Works |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +1. **Dense retrieval**: Vector similarity via Qdrant |
| 79 | +2. **Sparse retrieval**: BM25 keyword matching via Qdrant text index |
| 80 | +3. **Fusion**: Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) combines results |
| 81 | + |
| 82 | +### RRF Formula |
| 83 | + |
| 84 | +``` |
| 85 | +score(d) = sum(1 / (k + rank)) for each result list |
| 86 | +k = 60 (dampens rank impact) |
| 87 | +``` |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | +### Configuration |
| 90 | + |
| 91 | +```bash |
| 92 | +# Enable hybrid search (default: true) |
| 93 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYBRID_ENABLED=true |
| 94 | + |
| 95 | +# Weight for dense vs sparse (default: 0.7 = favor dense) |
| 96 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYBRID_ALPHA=0.7 |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +# RRF constant k (default: 60) |
| 99 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYBRID_RRF_K=60 |
| 100 | +``` |
| 101 | + |
| 102 | +--- |
| 103 | + |
| 104 | +## HyDE (Hypothetical Document Embeddings) |
| 105 | + |
| 106 | +Generates a hypothetical answer to the query, then retrieves documents similar to that hypothetical document. Best for short, ambiguous queries. |
| 107 | + |
| 108 | +### How It Works |
| 109 | + |
| 110 | +1. **Query**: "login issues" |
| 111 | +2. **Hypothetical doc**: "Authentication errors may occur due to invalid credentials, expired sessions, or password reset requirements..." |
| 112 | +3. **Retrieve**: Find docs similar to hypothetical |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | +### When HyDE Helps |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +- Short, ambiguous queries ("login issues") |
| 117 | +- Queries with little domain terminology |
| 118 | +- Documents are more verbose than queries |
| 119 | + |
| 120 | +### When to Skip HyDE |
| 121 | + |
| 122 | +- Long, specific queries (already contain good keywords) |
| 123 | +- Latency is critical (requires LLM call) |
| 124 | +- LLM might hallucinate domain terminology |
| 125 | + |
| 126 | +### Configuration |
| 127 | + |
| 128 | +```bash |
| 129 | +# Enable HyDE expansion (default: true) |
| 130 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYDE_ENABLED=true |
| 131 | + |
| 132 | +# Min query tokens to trigger HyDE (default: 10) |
| 133 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYDE_MIN_QUERY_TOKENS=10 |
| 134 | + |
| 135 | +# Max tokens in hypothetical document (default: 200) |
| 136 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYDE_MAX_HYPOTHETICAL_TOKENS=200 |
| 137 | +``` |
| 138 | + |
| 139 | +### Cost |
| 140 | + |
| 141 | +- Adds LLM call per query (~$0.002 per query at 200 tokens) |
| 142 | +- For 10K queries/day: ~$600/month |
| 143 | + |
| 144 | +--- |
| 145 | + |
| 146 | +## Multi-Query Variants |
| 147 | + |
| 148 | +Generates multiple query variants/rephrasings, retrieves for each, then merges results using RRF. |
| 149 | + |
| 150 | +### How It Works |
| 151 | + |
| 152 | +1. **Original query**: "How do I configure SPI?" |
| 153 | +2. **Variants**: |
| 154 | + - "SPI configuration settings" |
| 155 | + - "Set up Serial Peripheral Interface" |
| 156 | + - "SPI master/slave setup guide" |
| 157 | +3. **Retrieve** for each variant |
| 158 | +4. **Merge** with RRF |
| 159 | + |
| 160 | +### When Multi-Query Helps |
| 161 | + |
| 162 | +- Complex queries with multiple interpretations |
| 163 | +- Queries that might match different terminology |
| 164 | +- Single query retrieval yields poor results |
| 165 | + |
| 166 | +### When to Skip |
| 167 | + |
| 168 | +- Simple, well-defined queries |
| 169 | +- Exact match queries (keywords, IDs) |
| 170 | +- Latency is critical |
| 171 | + |
| 172 | +### Configuration |
| 173 | + |
| 174 | +```bash |
| 175 | +# Enable multi-query (default: true) |
| 176 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_MULTI_QUERY_ENABLED=true |
| 177 | + |
| 178 | +# Min query length to trigger (default: 10) |
| 179 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_MULTI_QUERY_MIN_LENGTH=10 |
| 180 | + |
| 181 | +# Number of variants to generate (default: 3) |
| 182 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_MULTI_QUERY_NUM_VARIANTS=3 |
| 183 | +``` |
| 184 | + |
| 185 | +--- |
| 186 | + |
| 187 | +## Query Classifier |
| 188 | + |
| 189 | +Classifies query type and routes to appropriate retrieval strategy. |
| 190 | + |
| 191 | +### Query Types |
| 192 | + |
| 193 | +| Type | Description | Best Strategy | |
| 194 | +|------|-------------|---------------| |
| 195 | +| **factual** | Specific facts, exact matches | Keyword retriever | |
| 196 | +| **procedural** | How-to, step-by-step | Hierarchical retriever | |
| 197 | +| **conceptual** | Explanations, understanding | Vector retriever | |
| 198 | +| **comparative** | Comparing options | Multi-document | |
| 199 | +| **temporal** | Time-sensitive | Time-filtered | |
| 200 | +| **ambiguous** | Needs clarification | Ask clarification | |
| 201 | + |
| 202 | +### Classification Methods |
| 203 | + |
| 204 | +- **Rule-based** (fast, no LLM cost) - Default |
| 205 | +- **LLM-based** (more accurate, higher cost) |
| 206 | +- **Hybrid** (rules first, LLM for ambiguous) |
| 207 | + |
| 208 | +### Configuration |
| 209 | + |
| 210 | +```bash |
| 211 | +# Enable classification (default: true) |
| 212 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_QUERY_CLASSIFIER_ENABLED=true |
| 213 | + |
| 214 | +# Use LLM for classification (default: false = rule-based) |
| 215 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_QUERY_CLASSIFIER_USE_LLM=false |
| 216 | +``` |
| 217 | + |
| 218 | +--- |
| 219 | + |
| 220 | +## Complete Configuration Reference |
| 221 | + |
| 222 | +Add these to your `.env` file: |
| 223 | + |
| 224 | +```bash |
| 225 | +# Reranker |
| 226 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_ENABLED=true |
| 227 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_MODEL=BAAI/bge-reranker-base |
| 228 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_TOP_K=20 |
| 229 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_FINAL_K=10 |
| 230 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_PROVIDER=local |
| 231 | + |
| 232 | +# Hybrid Search |
| 233 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYBRID_ENABLED=true |
| 234 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYBRID_ALPHA=0.7 |
| 235 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYBRID_RRF_K=60 |
| 236 | + |
| 237 | +# HyDE |
| 238 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYDE_ENABLED=true |
| 239 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYDE_MIN_QUERY_TOKENS=10 |
| 240 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYDE_MAX_HYPOTHETICAL_TOKENS=200 |
| 241 | + |
| 242 | +# Multi-Query |
| 243 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_MULTI_QUERY_ENABLED=true |
| 244 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_MULTI_QUERY_MIN_LENGTH=10 |
| 245 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_MULTI_QUERY_NUM_VARIANTS=3 |
| 246 | + |
| 247 | +# Query Classifier |
| 248 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_QUERY_CLASSIFIER_ENABLED=true |
| 249 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_QUERY_CLASSIFIER_USE_LLM=false |
| 250 | +``` |
| 251 | + |
| 252 | +--- |
| 253 | + |
| 254 | +## Performance vs Accuracy Trade-offs |
| 255 | + |
| 256 | +| Configuration | Latency | Accuracy | Cost | Use Case | |
| 257 | +|--------------|---------|----------|------|----------| |
| 258 | +| All enabled | High | Best | High | Production, critical | |
| 259 | +| Reranker only | Medium | Good | Low | Balanced | |
| 260 | +| Hybrid only | Low | Good | Free | Speed priority | |
| 261 | +| All disabled | Fastest | Baseline | Free | Development | |
| 262 | + |
| 263 | +## Disabling Features |
| 264 | + |
| 265 | +For faster development iteration, disable advanced features: |
| 266 | + |
| 267 | +```bash |
| 268 | +# Fast development mode |
| 269 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_RERANKER_ENABLED=false |
| 270 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYBRID_ENABLED=false |
| 271 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_HYDE_ENABLED=false |
| 272 | +MADEINOZ_KNOWLEDGE_MULTI_QUERY_ENABLED=false |
| 273 | +``` |
| 274 | + |
| 275 | +## Related Documentation |
| 276 | + |
| 277 | +- [RAG Quickstart](quickstart.md) - Basic search usage |
| 278 | +- [RAG Configuration](configuration.md) - Qdrant and Ollama setup |
| 279 | +- [RAG Troubleshooting](troubleshooting.md) - Common issues |
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