What the documents look like
Return inspection forms, refurbishment records, scrap declarations and relisting lists carry the working detail for this step. Inspection forms hold appearance and function status. Refurbishment records describe part replacement and repacking. Scrap declarations state why an item cannot be resold. Relisting lists give sellable quantity and grade. The material arrives from overseas warehouse WMS, TikTok return centers, Amazon return reports and inspection photographs, and updates daily or per batch.
These four document types differ in subject, object and status fields, so index construction has to check field completeness separately for each. Return refurbishment handles reverse logistics and item condition, which is a different material structure from inbound replenishment, and the vector model and index conditions follow from that difference. A knowledge base used for retrieval must share the same vector model, so the actual model and input type are verified first. One source data block can map to several indexes, and index content is checked apart from the source text. Index content is built from complete, focused information, and retrieval coverage is weighed against index length using samples. Image retrieval also depends on whether image descriptions or image vectors were generated at ingestion; uploading an image at query time does not replace an ingestion index. After a model or index change, the same question set is compared against cited source text, and vector scores alone do not support a performance promise.
Semantic recall and relevance scores do not handle permission or entity isolation. The same-vector-model requirement applies to linking knowledge bases, and it does not extend to business registries or other external systems. RRF is a fusion step for mixed results and is not an on/off switch. Image retrieval requires a corresponding image input and model capability, and reranking requires a model enabled under its settings. The citation cap uses tokens as its documented unit and is not converted into an item count.
Hypothetical paper exercise: an overseas warehouse inspection record states that the responsible party is the returns processing team, the object is a batch of Bluetooth speakers labelled R-2401, the condition is light surface scratches with a passed function test, and the grade decision is B, refurbishable. A refurbishment record states that the housing was replaced and the item repacked, completed on 12 March 2024, quantity 30 units. The draft sentence under review reads: "All 30 units in batch R-2401 have completed refurbishment and can be relisted directly." The question is whether that draft sentence matches the two records.
Constraints at the vector indexes step
The linked knowledge bases must use the same vector model. Verify the model identifier for each candidate base and exclude any that does not match; cross-model bases cannot be linked together, and no retrieval comparison across them is performed. A single source block may carry several indexes, and the index content is reviewed separately from the source text it points to. Index content is written as complete and focused information, and the trade-off between retrieval coverage and index length is decided against actual samples rather than a fixed rule.
Image retrieval has two documented paths: an image description generated by a vision model and then used in ordinary text retrieval, or an image vector produced when the vector model accepts image input. Whether an image can be found depends on the index built at ingestion, not only on what is uploaded during the query. The search mode, the citation cap in tokens, the minimum relevance value, question optimization and reranking are configured per the documented parameters, and the observable result is compared against cited source text.
A pending review does not show that an operation is unauthorized. Signing, reaching an agreement and a contract taking effect are three separate facts. The node outputs citations as an array whose length may be zero, so an empty result still passes through the downstream path; a paper input of [] can be used to check that downstream design without asserting that any particular rule-based query returns an empty array.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration item | Hypothetical starting point for this exercise | How it is checked and why |
|---|---|---|
| Linked knowledge bases | Inspection form base, refurbishment record base | Compare the vector model identifier of each base and exclude any that does not match |
| Search mode | Hybrid retrieval | Grade labels and natural-language questions both occur, so semantic and full-text recall are both needed |
| Citation cap | 800 tokens as a hypothetical starting point for this exercise | Compare against the average block length of inspection forms and observe whether the citation covers grade and status fields |
| Minimum relevance | 0.4 as a hypothetical starting point for this exercise | Compare cited source text under the same question set and observe whether unrelated fragments decrease |
| Question optimization | Enabled for multi-turn follow-up scenarios | With short or referentially unclear questions, observe whether the completed question contains the subject and batch |
| Reranking | Enabled when candidates are numerous | Confirm rerank model availability and observe citation relevance after score filtering |
Three common errors
- Treating an image uploaded at query time as an established image index. If no image description or image vector was generated at ingestion, retrieval cannot match the corresponding image content. Check the index generation record for ingestion and observe whether an image query returns an empty citation.
- Treating the minimum relevance value as a permission or entity filter. That value only filters low-relevance results and does not exclude unrelated business records or unauthorized records. Compare whether returned citations still contain other batches, and observe the difference in the citation set before and after filtering.
- Accepting the draft sentence "all 30 units have completed refurbishment and can be relisted directly" at face value. The refurbishment record states 30 units completed and does not state that all are relistable. Compare the quantity and status fields in the two records and observe whether the draft sentence exceeds the record scope.
How to verify the setup
- Input the inspection record and refurbishment record from the hypothetical exercise, and compare the draft sentence "All 30 units in batch R-2401 have completed refurbishment and can be relisted directly" against the quantity and status fields in those records. If the cited source text contains the completed refurbishment quantity of 30 units and does not contain a relisting conclusion, the draft sentence exceeds the record scope and is marked as pending verification.
- Input the batch R-2401 inspection record from the hypothetical exercise and compare whether the returned citation contains the grade decision B and the passed function test. If the cited source text contains the subject, object, status and grade fields together, the index covers the key fields of that block; if the grade field is missing from the citation, record that the index content for that block is incomplete.
- Input a short question containing only the batch number R-2401, and compare retrieval results with question optimization off and on. If the optimized citation contains the subject and status fields, question completion took effect; if the citation remains empty or contains only the batch number, record that question optimization did not complete the needed information in this scenario and mark it pending verification.
An empty-result handoff can use an explicit paper input of [] to check the downstream design, without asserting that a fictional rule-based retrieval necessarily returns []. Cross-model bases cannot be linked; verify the identifier first and exclude non-matching bases. A pending review does not show that operating permission is missing, and signing, reaching an agreement and a contract taking effect remain three distinct facts.