Systems

RAG

Retrieval-augmented generation: search first, answer second.

Plain-English explanation

RAG retrieves relevant documents before generating an answer. Good RAG requires ingestion, chunking, embeddings, retrieval, reranking, citations, permissions, and evals.

Why it matters

RAG matters because it affects how AI systems are designed, evaluated, priced, or trusted. Knowing the term helps you ask better questions and avoid vague implementation decisions.

Ask how it changes quality, cost, speed, or safety.
Look for concrete examples in the workflow you are building.
Document the tradeoff before choosing a tool or architecture.