Searchplex ID Retrieval terminology registry

Method

Chunking

Canonical ID https://id.searchplex.net/chunking/

A method for splitting larger content into smaller units that can be indexed, retrieved, embedded, passed to a model, or otherwise processed.

Scope

In RAG and search systems, chunking defines candidate units such as passages, sections, windows, or semantic segments. It influences retrieval quality but is not itself retrieval, ranking, or embedding.

Not equivalent to

  • Chunking is not Embedding. Chunking decides the units to represent; embedding is the representation of a unit.
  • Chunking is not Passage Retrieval. Chunking creates passage-like units; passage retrieval retrieves such units for a query or information need.
  • Chunking is not Retrieval-Augmented Generation. Chunking is one design choice inside many RAG systems; RAG is the broader retrieval-augmented generation pattern.
  • Chunking is not Retrieval. Chunking creates or selects retrievable units; retrieval selects relevant units from an indexed collection.
  • Chunking is not Query Segmentation. Query segmentation splits a short query into meaningful spans; chunking usually splits larger content into retrievable or processable units.

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