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AI Engineering · interactive

Query rewriting and HyDE

People ask in their own words; documents use product words. Search with the question as typed and the right page may never come back. Let a model rewrite the question first, or even write a fake answer and search with that.

User typed

it keeps saying no when i try to pay??

Search query sent (As typed)

it keeps saying no when i try to pay??

  1. #1Why a payment is declinedthe answer0 words shared

  2. #2Updating your billing address0 words shared

  3. #3Refund timing0 words shared

  4. #4Exporting your data0 words shared

  5. #5Single sign-on0 words shared

  6. #6API rate limits0 words shared

Nothing in the help centre shares a single word with the question as typed, so the right page never comes back.

Question

Search with

Search with exactly what the user wrote.

  1. 1

  2. 2

  3. 3

  4. 4

    Only the top results reach the model. A page at #5 might as well not exist. HyDE can also mislead: if the fake answer is wrong, it finds documents about the wrong thing.

    • it keeps saying no when i try to pay??As typed: — · Rewritten: #1 · HyDE: #1
    • how do i get all my stuff into a spreadsheetAs typed: — · Rewritten: #1 · HyDE: #1
    • the api stopped answering after a whileAs typed: #1 · Rewritten: #1 · HyDE: #1

In production

Tools and technologies

Most RAG frameworks can rewrite or expand the query before retrieval with one setting.

Not tied to one language — use these names when you search docs or design a system.