Topic 3: Query-Side Patterns
5 min read·21 Sept 2026
Topic 3: Query-Side Patterns
The shared idea: the index stays the same; the query changes. These are the mirror image of Topic 2: nothing extra at index time, one or more LLM calls at query time.
| Pattern | Extra per query | Fixes |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-query | 1 call + N searches | Wording mismatch, vague questions |
| HyDE | 1 call (longer output) | Question and answer written differently |
| Step-back | 1 call + 2 searches | Specific cases governed by a general rule |
| Decomposition | 1 call + N searches | Compound and multi-hop questions |
| Routed | 0-1 calls | Several distinct corpora |