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Comment by jcheng | Hacker News Reader

I agree that retrieval can take many forms besides vector search, but do we really want to call it RAG if the model is directing the search using a tool call? That like an important distinction to me and the name "agentic search" makes a lot more sense IMHO.

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Yes, I think that's RAG. It's Retrieval Augmented Generation - you're retrieving content to augment the generation.

Who cares if you used vector search for the retrieval?

The best vector retrieval implementations are already switching to a hybrid between vector and FTS, because it turns out BM25 etc is still a better algorithm for a lot of use-cases.

"Agentic search" makes much less sense to me because the term "agentic" is so incredibly vague.

I think it depends who "you" is. In classic RAG the search mechanism is preordained, the search is done up front and the results handed to the model pre-baked. I'd interpret "agentic search" as anything where the model has potentially a collection of search tools that it can decide how to use best for a given query, so the search algorithm, the query, and the number of searches are all under its own control.

Exactly. Was the extra information pushed to the model as part of the query? It’s RAG. Did the model pull the extra information in via a tool call? Agentic search.

That's far clearer. Yes.

This is a really useful definition of "agentic search", thanks.

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