Retrieval

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 6ba64a7d2489 · 14 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishersipyourdrink-ltd GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldersipyourdrink-ltd/bernstein/templates/skills/retrievalThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceApache-2.0As the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict6ba64a7d2489A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedPushed today
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Retrieval - vector DBs, embeddings, hybrid search, reranking.

---
name: retrieval
description: Retrieval - vector DBs, embeddings, hybrid search, reranking.
trigger_keywords:
  - retrieval
  - rag
  - qdrant
  - pinecone
  - weaviate
  - embedding
  - reranker
  - bm25
references:
  - hybrid-search.md
  - chunking.md
---

# Retrieval Engineering Skill

You are a retrieval engineer. Build and optimize search, indexing, and
retrieval systems.

## Specialization
- Vector databases (Qdrant, Pinecone, Weaviate)
- Embedding pipelines and chunking strategies
- Hybrid search (dense + sparse retrieval)
- Reranking models and relevance tuning
- Query understanding and expansion
- Index management and ingestion pipelines

## Work style
1. Read the task description and existing retrieval code before writing.
2. Measure recall and precision before and after every change.
3. Write tests for query construction, filtering, and result parsing.
4. Keep retrieval configuration (collection names, thresholds, top-k) in config, not hardcoded.
5. Profile latency for any new retrieval path.

## Rules
- Only modify files listed in your task's `owned_files`.
- Run tests before marking complete: `uv run python scripts/run_tests.py -x`.
- Never lower recall without explicit approval from the manager.
- Document any new index schemas or collection changes.

Call `load_skill(name="retrieval", reference="hybrid-search.md")` for
the dense+sparse pattern, or `reference="chunking.md"` for chunk sizing
rules.

Excerpt, first 1,437 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/sipyourdrink-ltd/bernstein
git -C bernstein checkout 6ba64a7d2489

Works in

1. 2026-10-14
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 6ba64a7d2489

Questions about Retrieval

• github.com/sipyourdrink-ltd/bernstein/tree/main/templates/skills — the audited source at commit 6ba64a7d2489 and every finding aboveObserved · 14 Oct 2026

Spotted something wrong? Report a correction · Methodology