What the documents look like
General trade export declaration work revolves around four document types: the export declaration form, the commercial invoice, the packing list, and the contract. Materials are produced per shipment. Compared with general trade import declaration, export declaration also affects the matching of export tax rebate vouchers, so for the same consignment the product name, quantity, transaction terms, and currency must correspond field by field across the declaration form, the invoice, and the packing list. Customs brokers and documentation staff spend the most time on three steps: classifying commodity codes, completing the declaration form, and checking freight and insurance. These fields frequently appear in different documents as bilingual text or abbreviations, so a search can easily hit only one of the materials. Data comes from China International Trade Single Window, the customs code library, freight forwarder bills of lading, and enterprise ERP systems. A missing field in any source leaves the retrieval result unable to support cross-checking.
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. At processing time, verify the model identifier first and exclude non-conforming bases; do not run cross-model retrieval to compare missed recalls. Semantic retrieval relies on vector distance and suits natural-language questions and cross-language matching. Full-text retrieval relies on keyword hits and suits codes, models, and proper nouns. Hybrid retrieval uses both paths and fuses them through RRF. The minimum relevance value takes effect only in semantic retrieval or when result reranking is used; it is a filtering threshold and does not perform permission or entity isolation, and retrieval itself does not constitute authorization. The citation limit uses tokens as its unit. The output citation content is an array whose length can be 0; when nothing is found, that output path still completes.
Hypothetical paper exercise sample: a documentation clerk at a foreign trade company intends to cross-check one export consignment. The source material reads: "Invoice No. INV-2024-0871, contract No. CT-2024-0455, product name stainless steel fasteners, quantity 1,200 pieces, transaction terms FOB Shanghai, invoice date 10 May 2024." The draft sentence to be assessed is: "The export declaration form for this consignment has been released." The source does not state a declaration form number or release status, so this draft sentence is unsupported and the evidence gap must be preserved.
Configuration and implementation checks
| Configuration item | Hypothetical starting point for this exercise | Reason and comparison method |
|---|---|---|
| Associated knowledge bases | Associate only export document bases that use the same vector model | Verify the vector model identifier first, exclude bases on different models, and do not run cross-model retrieval |
| Search mode | Run semantic, full-text, and hybrid retrieval once each | Compare the three result sets with the same test question; do not assume one mode suits all materials |
| Citation limit | Set to 2,000 tokens | A hypothetical starting point for this exercise; test with short and long materials to see whether content stays complete, then compare with adjacent values |
| Minimum relevance | Set to 0.4 | A hypothetical starting point for this exercise; label relevant and irrelevant samples first, then adjust the threshold; it applies only in semantic retrieval or reranking |
| Question optimization | Enable for multi-turn follow-ups and short questions | Compare the original question with the optimized question and check whether the subject was altered |
| Result reranking | Enable according to settings when a rerank model is available | Reranking requires an available model and must be enabled by settings; it is not a path taken on every request |
Three common errors
- Treating minimum relevance as a permission or entity filter. This value is a filtering threshold; it does not exclude unrelated business lines or unauthorized records, and retrieval results still require downstream business verification.
- Describing RRF as a toggle switch. RRF is the fusion process for hybrid retrieval results, not a selectable control item.
- Forcing knowledge bases on different vector models into a joint association. The documentation states only that associated bases must use the same vector model; it does not state the runtime outcome of a joint association. At processing time, verify the identifier and exclude non-conforming bases only.
How to verify the setup
- Input the hypothetical source material and the draft sentence "The export declaration form for this consignment has been released." Compare whether the source states a declaration form number and release status. The condition is met when the result is recorded as unsupported and the evidence gap is preserved.
- Input the same test question through semantic, full-text, and hybrid retrieval. Compare the citation content returned by the three paths and observe whether any passage conflicts with the subject of the question. A first-position hit or complete recall is not guaranteed.
- Use a paper input of an empty array to check the downstream design. Observe whether the path still completes when the output citation length is 0. Do not claim that a fictional rule retrieval necessarily returns an empty array.
This page addresses only: general trade export declaration / cross-border materials and multilingual retrieval / knowledge base retrieval and recall. At operational handover, which materials, operations, and requests sit at which authorization state cannot be treated as retrieval or a form acting as authorized execution.