Definition
The process of augmenting raw data chunks with structured context—such as summaries, entities, or temporal stamps—to enable precise pre-filtering and improve retrieval relevance in RAG pipelines. While it significantly boosts precision and enables hybrid search, it introduces trade-offs in the form of increased ingestion latency, higher storage overhead, and additional LLM costs during the indexing phase.
Not merely 'tagging'; it is the programmatic synthesis of auxiliary data to bridge the gap between unstructured embeddings and structured queries.
"Attaching GPS coordinates and a brief synopsis to the back of every page in an unindexed library to find information by both topic and physical origin."
Conceptual Overview
The process of augmenting raw data chunks with structured context—such as summaries, entities, or temporal stamps—to enable precise pre-filtering and improve retrieval relevance in RAG pipelines. While it significantly boosts precision and enables hybrid search, it introduces trade-offs in the form of increased ingestion latency, higher storage overhead, and additional LLM costs during the indexing phase.
Disambiguation
Not merely 'tagging'; it is the programmatic synthesis of auxiliary data to bridge the gap between unstructured embeddings and structured queries.
Visual Analog
Attaching GPS coordinates and a brief synopsis to the back of every page in an unindexed library to find information by both topic and physical origin.