Understand the mechanism

Run lexical and dense retrieval, fuse scores (e.g., RRF), optional rerank, then pack evidence for the LLM.

Read the hybrid search path as a pipeline for the technical support search assistant. At each stage, name the representation, the owner, and how information can be lost. Identifiers must mark prompt versions, model versions, indexes, and policies so “randomness” is not the default explanation for every bug in hybrid search.

On 50 tickets, pure vector recall@5=0.72, pure BM25=0.64, RRF hybrid=0.86—report denominators. Scoped specifically to hybrid search / technical support search assistant / mechanism.

Keep the unit and the denominator visible when you discuss hybrid search. A percentage without a base, or a latency without a percentile, hides the failure mode this chapter cares about on the technical support search assistant.

Learned stages estimate; deterministic stages enforce. A fluent result from the technical support search assistant does not prove hybrid search used the right evidence. Preserve intermediates when privacy allows—candidate lists, traces, scores, citations—so you can see the first broken stage in the hybrid search path.

Operational correctness for hybrid search includes deadlines on the technical support search assistant. If stages that feed this workload sum past the user’s patience, trim earlier—usually pack less, retrieve less, or parallelize—before blaming the model vendor for hybrid search. Mechanism diagrams that ignore time are incomplete.

Also pin one numeric memory from this hybrid search chapter: On 50 tickets, pure vector recall@5=0.72, pure BM25=0.64, RRF hybrid=0.86—report denominators. That number is not decoration; it is a template for how claims about hybrid search on the technical support search assistant should look in design docs. Scoped specifically to hybrid search / technical support search assistant / mechanism.

People confuse hybrid search with neighboring buzzwords when debugging the technical support search assistant. Before changing prompts, ask whether the broken stage was evidence gathering, the hybrid search judgment itself, validation, or the product action. Fixing the wrong stage creates folklore (“we tried hybrid search and it failed”) that blocks the next team on the technical support search assistant. Scoped specifically to hybrid search / technical support search assistant / mechanism.

Write a five-line artifact for this page: goal, inputs, check, owner, stop rule. Invent one fluent failure that the check would catch. Keep details specific to hybrid search rag rather than generic AI advice.