Agent skill

rag-retrieval

Retrieval-Augmented Generation patterns for grounded LLM responses. Use when building RAG pipelines, constructing context from retrieved documents, adding citations, or implementing hybrid search.

Stars 163
Forks 31

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/other/rag-retrieval

SKILL.md

RAG Retrieval

Combine vector search with LLM generation for accurate, grounded responses.

Basic RAG Pattern

python
async def rag_query(question: str, top_k: int = 5) -> str:
    """Basic RAG: retrieve then generate."""
    # 1. Retrieve relevant documents
    docs = await vector_db.search(question, limit=top_k)

    # 2. Construct context
    context = "\n\n".join([
        f"[{i+1}] {doc.text}"
        for i, doc in enumerate(docs)
    ])

    # 3. Generate with context
    response = await llm.chat([
        {"role": "system", "content":
            "Answer using ONLY the provided context. "
            "If not in context, say 'I don't have that information.'"},
        {"role": "user", "content": f"Context:\n{context}\n\nQuestion: {question}"}
    ])

    return response.content

RAG with Citations

python
async def rag_with_citations(question: str) -> dict:
    """RAG with inline citations [1], [2], etc."""
    docs = await vector_db.search(question, limit=5)

    context = "\n\n".join([
        f"[{i+1}] {doc.text}\nSource: {doc.metadata['source']}"
        for i, doc in enumerate(docs)
    ])

    response = await llm.chat([
        {"role": "system", "content":
            "Answer with inline citations like [1], [2]. "
            "End with a Sources section."},
        {"role": "user", "content": f"Context:\n{context}\n\nQuestion: {question}"}
    ])

    return {
        "answer": response.content,
        "sources": [doc.metadata['source'] for doc in docs]
    }

Hybrid Search (Semantic + Keyword)

python
def reciprocal_rank_fusion(
    semantic_results: list,
    keyword_results: list,
    k: int = 60
) -> list:
    """Combine semantic and keyword search with RRF."""
    scores = {}

    for rank, doc in enumerate(semantic_results):
        scores[doc.id] = scores.get(doc.id, 0) + 1 / (k + rank + 1)

    for rank, doc in enumerate(keyword_results):
        scores[doc.id] = scores.get(doc.id, 0) + 1 / (k + rank + 1)

    # Sort by combined score
    ranked_ids = sorted(scores.keys(), key=lambda x: scores[x], reverse=True)
    return [get_doc(id) for id in ranked_ids]

Context Window Management

python
def fit_context(docs: list, max_tokens: int = 6000) -> list:
    """Truncate context to fit token budget."""
    total_tokens = 0
    selected = []

    for doc in docs:
        doc_tokens = count_tokens(doc.text)
        if total_tokens + doc_tokens > max_tokens:
            break
        selected.append(doc)
        total_tokens += doc_tokens

    return selected

Guidelines:

  • Keep context under 75% of model limit
  • Reserve tokens for system prompt + response
  • Prioritize highest-relevance documents

Context Sufficiency Check (2026 Best Practice)

python
from pydantic import BaseModel

class SufficiencyCheck(BaseModel):
    """Pre-generation context validation."""
    is_sufficient: bool
    confidence: float  # 0.0-1.0
    missing_info: str | None = None

async def rag_with_sufficiency(question: str, top_k: int = 5) -> str:
    """RAG with hallucination prevention via sufficiency check.

    Based on Google Research ICLR 2025: Adding a sufficiency check
    before generation reduces hallucinations from insufficient context.
    """
    docs = await vector_db.search(question, limit=top_k)
    context = "\n\n".join([f"[{i+1}] {doc.text}" for i, doc in enumerate(docs)])

    # Pre-generation sufficiency check (prevents hallucination)
    check = await llm.with_structured_output(SufficiencyCheck).ainvoke(
        f"""Does this context contain sufficient information to answer the question?

Question: {question}

Context:
{context}

Evaluate:
- is_sufficient: Can the question be fully answered from context?
- confidence: How confident are you? (0.0-1.0)
- missing_info: What's missing if not sufficient?"""
    )

    # Abstain if context insufficient (high-confidence)
    if not check.is_sufficient and check.confidence > 0.7:
        return f"I don't have enough information to answer this question. Missing: {check.missing_info}"

    # Low confidence → retrieve more context
    if not check.is_sufficient and check.confidence <= 0.7:
        more_docs = await vector_db.search(question, limit=top_k * 2)
        context = "\n\n".join([f"[{i+1}] {doc.text}" for i, doc in enumerate(more_docs)])

    # Generate only with sufficient context
    response = await llm.chat([
        {"role": "system", "content":
            "Answer using ONLY the provided context. "
            "If information is missing, say so rather than guessing."},
        {"role": "user", "content": f"Context:\n{context}\n\nQuestion: {question}"}
    ])

    return response.content

Why this matters (Google Research 2025):

  • RAG paradoxically increases hallucinations when context is insufficient
  • Additional context increases model confidence → more likely to hallucinate
  • Sufficiency check allows abstention when information is missing

Key Decisions

Decision Recommendation
Top-k 3-10 documents
Temperature 0.1-0.3 (factual)
Context budget 4K-8K tokens
Hybrid ratio 50/50 semantic/keyword

Common Mistakes

  • No citation tracking (unverifiable answers)
  • Context too large (dilutes relevance)
  • Temperature too high (hallucinations)
  • Single retrieval method (misses keyword matches)

Advanced Patterns

See references/advanced-rag.md for:

  • HyDE Integration: Hypothetical document embeddings for vocabulary mismatch
  • Agentic RAG: Multi-step retrieval with tool use
  • Self-RAG: LLM decides when to retrieve and validates outputs
  • Corrective RAG: Evaluate retrieval quality and correct if needed
  • Pipeline Composition: Combine HyDE + Hybrid + Rerank

Related Skills

  • embeddings - Creating vectors for retrieval
  • hyde-retrieval - Hypothetical document embeddings
  • query-decomposition - Multi-concept query handling
  • reranking-patterns - Cross-encoder and LLM reranking
  • contextual-retrieval - Anthropic's context-prepending technique
  • langgraph-functional - Building agentic RAG workflows

Capability Details

retrieval-patterns

Keywords: retrieval, context, chunks, relevance Solves:

  • Retrieve relevant context for LLM
  • Implement RAG pipeline
  • Optimize retrieval quality

hybrid-search

Keywords: hybrid, bm25, vector, fusion Solves:

  • Combine keyword and semantic search
  • Implement reciprocal rank fusion
  • Balance precision and recall

chatbot-example

Keywords: chatbot, rag, example, typescript Solves:

  • Build RAG chatbot example
  • TypeScript implementation
  • End-to-end RAG pipeline

pipeline-template

Keywords: pipeline, template, implementation, starter Solves:

  • RAG pipeline starter template
  • Production-ready code
  • Copy-paste implementation

Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.

Didn't find tool you were looking for?

Be as detailed as possible for better results