What the documents look like
Store cold-chain receiving for fresh produce turns on transport temperature, arrival batch, and the store receiving record. The working materials are cold-chain temperature records, arrival acceptance forms, rejection forms, and supplier delivery notes. These update per batch and per day. Temperature measurement, quality sampling, and rejection-reason registration are the most time-consuming steps, and the materials connect directly to spoiled food, supplier disputes, and regulatory penalties. Retrieval therefore has to locate a specific batch, a specific acceptance form, and a specific rejection record rather than a general topic. Data sources include cold-chain vehicle temperature control, WMS, the store receiving system, and quality inspection photos. Retrieval is confined to knowledge bases the operator already has access to.
For this page the task is contract and transaction material comparison. The retrieval step answers one question: which stored passages are returned as references for a comparison, and which passages remain outside the returned set.
Constraints at the retrieval step
The knowledge base search node can associate one or more knowledge bases that use the same vector model. Knowledge bases using different vector models cannot be associated together. Search modes are semantic retrieval, full-text retrieval, and hybrid retrieval; hybrid retrieval merges multiple result paths through RRF, and reranking requires a rerank model and must be enabled according to configuration. The reference cap is measured in tokens. The minimum relevance value takes effect only under semantic retrieval or when result reranking is used. Question optimization performs coreference resolution and question expansion and adds one model call before formal retrieval. The reference output is an array whose length can be zero, and the output path still completes when nothing is retrieved.
A relevance score is not an entity filter or a permission filter. Similarity settings do not exclude unrelated businesses or unauthorized records. Retrieval is not authorization. Forms collect values; business verification, approval, database writes, and external synchronization require their own downstream implementation.
Hypothetical drill sample: a store receiving record contains a supplier delivery note stating "delivered 10 March 2025, chilled pork batch A, recorded arrival temperature 2 degrees Celsius." The arrival acceptance form for the same day states "batch A passed sensory inspection, accepted." A quality inspection photo is annotated "batch A packaging intact." One draft sentence awaiting judgment reads "batch A was rejected because the temperature exceeded the limit." The comparison task is to search within the authorized retrieval scope for batch A temperature records, acceptance conclusions, and rejection records, and to judge whether the draft sentence is supported by the materials. The authorization boundary is: only the four material types archived for that store on that day are used, no external business registry system is called, and no write or approval action is performed.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration item | Hypothetical trial starting point | Reason and comparison object |
|---|---|---|
| Associated knowledge bases | Associate only this store's cold-chain receiving base, with matching vector model identifier | Check the vector model identifier first, exclude non-matching bases, and do not run cross-model retrieval |
| Search mode | Hybrid retrieval | Batch numbers are exact queries and temperature descriptions are semantic queries; compare the three modes against the test question |
| Reference cap | Hypothetical trial starting point of 800 tokens | Test content completeness with acceptance forms of different lengths and compare against a shorter cap |
| Minimum relevance | Hypothetical trial starting point of 0.3 | Label relevant and irrelevant samples first, then compare returned differences after threshold changes |
| Question optimization | Enabled | Compare the original question with the optimized question and check whether the subject batch number was altered |
| Result reranking | Enabled when a rerank model is available | Enable per configuration and compare candidate order before and after reranking without presuming an order |
Three common errors
- Treating a retrieved supplier delivery note as an authorization basis. Retrieval returns reference content only and does not constitute approval, signature, or contract effect. The erroneous input is the retrieval result array; the erroneous comparison treats a hit as equivalent to an authorized state; the observable result is that the draft sentence is misjudged as supported.
- Treating the minimum relevance value as an entity or permission filter. That value filters low-relevance results only and does not exclude unrelated business or unauthorized records. The erroneous input is the similarity score; the erroneous comparison uses it as a batch isolation measure; the observable result is that materials from different batches enter the same reference set.
- Treating the optimized question wording as source fact. Optimization performs coreference resolution and question expansion and can change the subject scope. The erroneous input is the optimized question; the erroneous comparison fails to check back against the original material; the observable result is that the draft sentence subject does not match the original batch number.
How to verify the setup
- Input the supplier delivery note text from the hypothetical sample and the draft sentence "batch A was rejected because the temperature exceeded the limit." Compare the delivery note temperature record of 2 degrees Celsius with the acceptance form's accepted conclusion. The condition is met when retrieval returns those original texts and the draft sentence, checked against the original on the same subject, same period, and same field, shows no support for the rejection claim.
- Input the batch number "batch A" as the retrieval term. Compare hybrid retrieval and full-text retrieval hits for the exact identifier. The condition is met when the returned references include the batch A delivery note and acceptance form and no other batch material appears; if the return is empty, record it as not recalled and keep the gap open.
- Input a batch query with no temperature record and no acceptance form. Compare the returned array against the paper input []. The condition is met when the downstream design can carry an empty-result path; do not assert that a fictional rule necessarily returns an empty array, and record only the observed output length.
These checks describe expected observations. No test, deployment, approval, refund, or other business action has been performed.