RAG & Search
Chunk overlap
Repeated text shared between adjacent chunks to preserve context across boundaries.
Example
Adjacent document chunks repeat two sentences so an important idea is not split apart.
Why it matters
It helps preserve connections that would otherwise be broken at a document boundary.
You'll hear it
“Repeat a little of the previous passage so the next one makes sense.”
Can you control it?
Set by the team
The people building or running the AI choose this setup. An everyday user generally needs their help to change how this part works.
Common questions
- Can too much overlap waste space?
- Yes. Repeated material increases storage and can crowd search results with near-identical passages.
- Does overlap recover every missing relationship?
- No. Some ideas depend on distant sections that a small repeated boundary cannot include.
- Should every document use the same amount?
- Not necessarily. The right choice depends on structure and how its passages are used.