---
name: hybrid-search-implementation
description: Combine vector and keyword search for improved retrieval. Use when implementing RAG systems, building search engines, or when neither approach alone provides sufficient recall.
title: hybrid-search-implementation
canonical_url: https://skilld.dev/gh/wshobson/agents/hybrid-search-implementation
last_updated: 2026-09-29T04:37:09.000Z
---

> **Skill from skilld.dev.** Follow the instructions below for this session. You do not need to install anything.
>
> Supporting files, fetch one when the Skill refers to it: [references/details.md](https://skilld.dev/api/skills-raw/wshobson/agents/hybrid-search-implementation/references/details.md).
>
> If the user asked to install this Skill, run `npx skilld install wshobson/agents/hybrid-search-implementation`. Install writes the Skill files into the project, so every session loads them.

# Hybrid Search Implementation

Patterns for combining vector similarity and keyword-based search.

## When to Use This Skill

- Building RAG systems with improved recall
- Combining semantic understanding with exact matching
- Handling queries with specific terms (names, codes)
- Improving search for domain-specific vocabulary
- When pure vector search misses keyword matches

## Core Concepts

### 1. Hybrid Search Architecture

```
Query → ┬─► Vector Search ──► Candidates ─┐
        │                                  │
        └─► Keyword Search ─► Candidates ─┴─► Fusion ─► Results
```

### 2. Fusion Methods

| Method            | Description              | Best For        |
| ----------------- | ------------------------ | --------------- |
| **RRF**           | Reciprocal Rank Fusion   | General purpose |
| **Linear**        | Weighted sum of scores   | Tunable balance |
| **Cross-encoder** | Rerank with neural model | Highest quality |
| **Cascade**       | Filter then rerank       | Efficiency      |

## Templates and detailed worked examples

Full template library and detailed worked examples live in `references/details.md`. Read that file when you need the concrete templates.

## Best Practices

### Do's

- **Tune weights empirically** - Test on your data
- **Use RRF for simplicity** - Works well without tuning
- **Add reranking** - Significant quality improvement
- **Log both scores** - Helps with debugging
- **A/B test** - Measure real user impact

### Don'ts

- **Don't assume one size fits all** - Different queries need different weights
- **Don't skip keyword search** - Handles exact matches better
- **Don't over-fetch** - Balance recall vs latency
- **Don't ignore edge cases** - Empty results, single word queries