Hybrid Retrieval and Reranking Pipeline¶
Specification¶
The full specification below is extracted from Chapter 14: "Chapter 14: Integrating LLMs with Context Graphs".
Type: microsim
**sim-id:** hybrid-retrieval-pipeline
**Library:** p5.js
**Status:** Specified
Bloom Level: Apply (L3)
Bloom Verb: use
Learning Objective: Learners can use the hybrid retrieval pipeline to describe what happens at each stage of context graph retrieval and identify which stage is responsible for a specific type of retrieval failure.
Instructional Rationale: A step-through pipeline MicroSim is appropriate for the Apply objective — learners trace a specific query through all five stages, which prepares them to debug and optimize retrieval pipelines in practice.
Canvas: responsive width via updateCanvasSize() first in setup(). Height: 500px. White background.
Layout: Five stage boxes arranged left to right, each 18% width. Stage boxes contain an icon (drawn in p5.js), a stage name, and a brief description. An animated orange arrow moves between stages.
Stage 1 "Query Interpretation": Input box showing user query "Pricing exception precedents for Acme Corp Q4 renewal". Output: structured spec { entity_id: ENT-00441872, decision_type: pricing_exception, recency: 24mo }
Stage 2 "Graph Traversal": Shows 12 candidate nodes retrieved. Label: "Entity-linked traces found: 12"
Stage 3 "Vector Search": Shows additional 23 candidates. Label: "Semantically similar traces: 23. Combined candidate set: 35"
Stage 4 "First-Pass Ranking": Shows top-15 selected. Label: "Composite score applied. Top 15 retained for reranking."
Stage 5 "Cross-Encoder Rerank": Shows top-5 final. Label: "Reranker applied. Top 5 injected into context window."
Controls: "Next Stage" button (indigo), "Previous Stage" button (steel blue), "Reset" button. Stage indicator text: "Stage N of 5: [name]".
Each stage box is clickable — clicking shows a detail panel below with: what is computed at this stage, what the latency budget is (Stage 1: <10ms, Stage 2: <20ms, Stage 3: <30ms, Stage 4: <20ms, Stage 5: <50ms), and what failure mode looks like for this stage.
Total latency tracker at bottom right: updates cumulatively as stages complete, showing target of < 150ms total for the retrieval pipeline.
Canvas responds to window resize.