Architecture stack · Fast-moving · Intermediate

RAG stack

The combination of ingestion, chunking, embedding, indexing, retrieval, reranking and generation that a production RAG system needs.

What RAG stack is

RAG is a pipeline, not a single component. Each stage has its own failure mode, and quality problems must be traced stage by stage.

How it works

Documents are parsed and chunked with metadata, embedded and indexed, retrieved with hybrid search, reranked, then passed to the model with grounding instructions and citation requirements. Evaluation runs at both retrieval and answer level.

Why it matters

Teams that treat RAG as one black box cannot debug it; teams that measure each stage can.

Common uses

→Enterprise knowledge assistants
→Support automation
→Research tools

Strengths

✓Each stage independently improvable
✓Well-understood pattern

Watch for

✓Several moving parts to operate
✓Evaluation required at every stage

Continue exploring

Retrieval-Augmented Generation Chunking Reranking Vector Database LLM Evaluation