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Config reference: fusion

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    Defaults + constraints are rendered directly from Pydantic.

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    Many fields have an env-style alias (from TriBridConfig.to_flat_dict()).

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Config reference Config API & workflow Glossary

Total parameters: 6

Group index
  • (root)

(root)

JSON key Env key(s) Type Default Constraints Summary
fusion.graph_weight FUSION_GRAPH_WEIGHT float 0.3 ≥ 0.0, ≤ 1.0 Weight for graph search results (Neo4j)
fusion.method FUSION_METHOD Literal["rrf", "weighted"] "rrf" allowed="rrf", "weighted" Fusion method: 'rrf' (Reciprocal Rank Fusion) or 'weighted' (score-based)
fusion.normalize_scores FUSION_NORMALIZE_SCORES bool true Normalize scores to [0,1] before fusion
fusion.rrf_k FUSION_RRF_K int 60 ≥ 1, ≤ 200 RRF smoothing constant (higher = more weight to top ranks)
fusion.sparse_weight FUSION_SPARSE_WEIGHT float 0.3 ≥ 0.0, ≤ 1.0 Weight for sparse BM25/FTS search results
fusion.vector_weight FUSION_VECTOR_WEIGHT float 0.4 ≥ 0.0, ≤ 1.0 Weight for vector search results (pgvector)

Details (glossary)

fusion.graph_weight (FUSION_GRAPH_WEIGHT) — Graph Weight

Category: general

Sets the contribution of graph retrieval in weighted fusion relative to sparse and vector signals. Increase it when structural relationships such as calls, imports, and dependencies are essential to user tasks; decrease it when lexical or semantic similarity should dominate. Because weighted fusion blends heterogeneous score sources, calibration and normalization matter as much as the raw weight values. Track performance by query type to ensure graph-heavy tuning improves structural questions without hurting broad semantic retrieval.

Badges: - Fusion weighting

Links: - RGL Graph-Centric RAG (arXiv) - Neo4j GraphRAG User Guide - Azure Vector Weighting - Neo4j PageRank

fusion.method (FUSION_METHOD) — Fusion Method

Category: general

Chooses how result lists from different retrievers are combined. Reciprocal Rank Fusion is usually robust when score scales are incomparable, while weighted score fusion is better when each modality is well normalized and intentionally calibrated. The method you choose affects both stability and interpretability of ranking behavior across query types. Keep evaluation and production on the same fusion method so offline gains translate reliably at runtime.

Badges: - Core fusion strategy

Links: - Exp4Fuse Rank Fusion (arXiv) - Elasticsearch RRF - Azure Hybrid Ranking - OpenSearch Normalization Processor

fusion.normalize_scores (FUSION_NORMALIZE_SCORES) — Normalize Scores

Category: general

In weighted fusion, vector similarity, BM25 relevance, and graph traversal scores usually exist on different numeric scales. This setting rescales them before combination so each retriever contributes based on relevance rather than raw magnitude. Keep normalization enabled when using weighted fusion, because otherwise one modality can dominate final ranking even with balanced weights. For rank-only fusion like RRF, normalization is usually unnecessary because only positions matter. If tuning weights does not change top results much, inspect score distributions first; poor normalization is often the real issue.

Badges: - Fusion tuning

Links: - DAT: Dynamic Alpha Tuning for Hybrid Retrieval in RAG (arXiv 2025) - OpenSearch Normalization Processor - Weaviate Hybrid Search - Elasticsearch Reciprocal Rank Fusion API

fusion.rrf_k (FUSION_RRF_K) — RRF k Parameter

Category: general

RRF combines result lists with the formula 1 divided by k plus rank, so k controls how quickly importance decays with lower-ranked items. Smaller k values strongly favor top hits from each retriever, while larger values preserve more mid-ranked candidates and improve diversity. In tri-brid retrieval, k interacts with each retriever depth and chunk granularity, so tune it with offline metrics instead of intuition. Start near 60, then lower it if results feel noisy and raise it if relevant alternatives disappear too quickly. Changing k is often safer than hand-tuning many modality weights.

Badges: - RRF control

Links: - Hybrid RAG for Multilingual QA with RRF (arXiv 2025) - Reciprocal Rank Fusion Original Paper - Elasticsearch Reciprocal Rank Fusion API - Unified Learning-to-Rank for Multi-Channel Retrieval (arXiv 2026)

fusion.sparse_weight (FUSION_SPARSE_WEIGHT) — Sparse Weight

Category: general

This weight controls how much lexical evidence from sparse retrieval influences the final fused ranking. Raising it improves exact-term tasks such as API names, error messages, file paths, and identifiers, but can reduce semantic recall when user wording differs from source text. Sparse weight should be tuned together with tokenizer and BM25 settings, because score behavior changes when stemming or chunk length changes. Use an evaluation set that includes both literal and conceptual queries so one class does not overfit the setting. If results become too keyword-literal, reduce this value before changing retriever architecture.

Badges: - Keyword bias

Links: - DAT: Dynamic Alpha Tuning for Hybrid Retrieval in RAG (arXiv 2025) - Pinecone Hybrid Search Guide - Weaviate Hybrid Search - Elasticsearch Similarity and BM25 Settings

fusion.vector_weight (FUSION_VECTOR_WEIGHT) — Vector Weight

Category: general

This weight determines how strongly semantic nearest-neighbor matches influence fused ranking. Higher values help when users ask conceptual questions using synonyms not present in source text, while lower values protect exact-match intent such as identifiers and versioned commands. Re-tune this after embedding-model changes, chunking changes, or reranker changes because score calibration shifts quickly across those updates. Evaluate with mixed query types and inspect which retriever wins per query, not just aggregate averages. If answers feel topically related but miss required literals, vector weight is likely too high.

Badges: - Semantic bias

Links: - DAT: Dynamic Alpha Tuning for Hybrid Retrieval in RAG (arXiv 2025) - pgvector Extension - Pinecone Hybrid Search Guide - Weaviate Hybrid Search