Definition
A retrieval strategy where an AI agent iteratively executes multiple search steps, using the insights from one step to formulate the query for the next, in order to answer complex questions requiring synthesized information from disparate sources. While it enables the resolution of complex 'bridging' queries, it introduces architectural trade-offs such as significantly increased latency and the risk of compounding errors/hallucinations across intermediate hops.
Sequential context-building vs. single-shot vector search.
"A detective following a trail of breadcrumbs through different rooms to find a final piece of evidence."
- Chain of Thought (CoT)(Prerequisite)
- Recursive RAG(Component)
- Sub-query Decomposition(Component)
- Knowledge Graph(Infrastructure)
Conceptual Overview
A retrieval strategy where an AI agent iteratively executes multiple search steps, using the insights from one step to formulate the query for the next, in order to answer complex questions requiring synthesized information from disparate sources. While it enables the resolution of complex 'bridging' queries, it introduces architectural trade-offs such as significantly increased latency and the risk of compounding errors/hallucinations across intermediate hops.
Disambiguation
Sequential context-building vs. single-shot vector search.
Visual Analog
A detective following a trail of breadcrumbs through different rooms to find a final piece of evidence.