What the documents look like
General trade export declaration produces an export declaration form, a commercial invoice, a packing list and a contract for each shipment. The working data comes from the China International Trade Single Window, the customs code library, the forwarder bill of lading and the enterprise ERP. Compared with general trade import declaration, export declaration also affects the matching of export tax rebate vouchers. Because the data updates per shipment, handover must check material versions shipment by shipment; a citation record from a previous shipment cannot be carried forward.
For citation tracing during operations handover, the practical question is which materials, actions and requests sit at which authorization state. A retrieval result is not an authorization, and a form entry is not an executed business action. The export declaration form, commercial invoice, packing list and contract each carry their own source, version and current state, and those states must be recorded clearly at handover.
Constraints at the citation tracing step
The knowledge base search node can select one or more knowledge bases that share the same vector model, and it outputs citations as an array whose length can be zero. When nothing is retrieved, the output path still runs. The minimum relevance score is a filter threshold that takes effect only under semantic retrieval or result reranking; it does not perform permission filtering or entity isolation. The same-vector-model requirement applies to knowledge base association only, and does not extend to requiring the same model across business registry sites or other external systems. RRF is the result fusion process after hybrid retrieval, not a switch that can be turned on. The citation limit controls the maximum tokens cited per search and is unrelated to thinking budget, which belongs to model thinking configuration.
Hypothetical paper exercise sample: the material text reads "Export declaration number HYP-2024-0871, declaration date 12 June 2024, domestic consignor: Huayuan Import and Export Co., Ltd., commodity item: stainless steel fasteners, quantity 1200 kilograms, total price 4800 US dollars; attached commercial invoice INV-2024-0871 and packing list PL-2024-0871, contract number CT-2024-0871 signed 5 June 2024, contract stipulates shipment period July 2024." The draft sentence to be judged is "This batch of goods has completed export declaration and obtained the tax rebate voucher." The handover request is "Mark the above declaration citation source as authorized for handover and synchronize it to the tax rebate voucher matching step." The current material shows only the declaration date and the contract shipment period; it does not state the customs release status or whether the tax rebate voucher has been obtained.
Configuration and implementation checks
The table below lists, around the sample above, official documented settings or implementation check items relevant to this feature and the primary task. The values are starting points for this hypothetical exercise, used to compare against actual retrieval output, and do not represent official default values.
| Configuration item | Hypothetical exercise starting point | Check method |
|---|---|---|
| Associated knowledge bases | Select one export declaration document base with the same vector model | Check that the base identifier and vector model identifier match; exclude those that do not |
| Search mode | Hybrid retrieval | Observe whether semantic recall and full-text recall both enter fusion |
| Citation limit | Hypothetical starting point of 1200 tokens | Compare with the actual cited tokens for that search to judge whether the limit is exceeded |
| Minimum relevance score | Hypothetical starting point of 0.35 | Compare with the rerank score; candidates below it are filtered |
| Citation output | Array, length allowed to be zero | Use the paper input [] to check the downstream receiving design |
| Citation display check | Compare each answer item against the cited source text | Use the declaration source text as source evidence, not answer fluency |
Three common errors
- Treating retrieval output as an authorization result. The search node returns only a citation array; it does not execute authorization, approval or database writes. In the sample, the draft sentence claims the declaration is complete and the tax rebate voucher obtained, while the material does not state release status or voucher acquisition, so the claim is unsupported.
- Treating a pending review request as already approved. The handover request asks to mark the source as authorized for handover and synchronize it to rebate matching. That request is in a pending state, no approval record is shown, and it cannot be treated as executed.
- Treating the relevance threshold as a permission filter. The minimum relevance score only filters low-relevance results; it does not exclude unrelated businesses or unauthorized records. Using that value to judge handover permission is a misuse.
How to verify the setup
- Input the declaration source text and the draft sentence from the sample, and compare whether the draft sentence shares the same subject, the same period and the same field as the source. The source shows the declaration date and contract shipment period, and does not show release or rebate voucher fields. The draft sentence goes beyond the source scope and is judged unsupported.
- Input the handover request, and compare the phrase "authorized for handover" in the request against whether an authorization record exists in the material. The material does not state an authorizing party or authorization scope, so the request remains pending verification and no synchronization action is performed.
- Input the paper citation array [], and compare whether the downstream answer step runs through without error. The output path allows a length of zero. If the downstream design depends on a non-empty array, record that gap. Do not claim that a fictional rule search necessarily returns an empty array.
This feature has verified public technical facts: the knowledge base search scope first checks the selected knowledge base and material version, and only knowledge bases with the same vector model can be associated together. The search node outputs a citation array whose length may be zero, and an empty array does not mean the workflow has errored and stopped. Check whether the retrieval output is passed to the answer step, and compare each answer item against the cited source text. Use a traceable sample to check source display, and do not substitute thinking process or answer fluency for source evidence. Test sources with the current version and historical version documents; whether a citation is adopted still depends on review against the valid version.