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RAG Architecture Series • 6 Parts

From Core Loop to Agentic Systems

Six patterns that define production RAG architecture. What each one does, what it costs, and when it earns its complexity. Use the diagnostic below to find your starting point.

Find My Pattern ↓ Explore All Patterns
6 Patterns covered
3 Interactive tools
45 min Total series read time

A good RAG system is not defined by retrieval alone. It is defined by the architecture around it: query understanding, context selection, evidence quality, evaluation, governance, and production behaviour. This series breaks down the major RAG patterns with architecture diagrams and engineering reasoning for each. You will not just learn what each pattern is; you will learn when it earns its complexity, what it costs to add, and how to choose the right design using evaluation signals instead of architectural hype.

RAG Architecture Series Overview

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RAG Architecture Series Overview
Tool 1

Find Your Pattern

Answer two questions. Get a personalised reading path through the series.

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Your situation What's failing Your path

Where are you right now?

This determines your starting point in the series.

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Building from scratch
No RAG system yet, or just starting to explore the right architecture for a new use case.
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Improving an existing system
RAG is already running but producing incorrect, incomplete, or inconsistent results.

What is your system failing to do?

Select everything that applies. Each failure maps to a specific capability.

Tool 2

Explore Every Pattern

Expand any card to see key techniques, the primary risk, and a link to the full post.

Tool 3

Compare Any Two Patterns

Select two patterns and see how they differ across use case, complexity, cost, and risk.

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Read the Full Series

Each post goes deeper on the architecture, trade-offs, and implementation decisions.