SmarterContext
Issue #004 · Wed, Jul 1, 2026
Your AI keeps forgetting what you told it. Learn to fix that. |
Chunking knowledge — the make-or-break of retrieval
Bad chunks make smart retrieval dumb. Where you cut your docs decides what the AI can find. |
Retrieval is only as good as your chunks. Split a document mid-sentence and the matching chunk loses the context that made it meaningful; make chunks too big and you waste window and dilute relevance. The fix is semantic chunking: split on natural boundaries (headings, paragraphs, list items), keep a small overlap so ideas don't get severed at the seam, and attach metadata (source, section, date) to each chunk so you can filter and cite. One idea per chunk is the target. |
▸ The template
# Chunking rules of thumb
size : 300–800 tokens (one coherent idea)
overlap : 10–15% (so sentences aren't severed)
split on : headings > paragraphs > sentences
(NEVER mid-sentence by raw char count)
metadata : { source, section, last_updated, doc_type }
# Example chunk record
{
"text": "Refunds are issued within 5 business days...",
"source": "policy/refunds.md",
"section": "Refund timing",
"last_updated": "2026-06-01"
}
# Smell test: read a chunk alone — does it still make sense? |
▸ Level it up
New to this: Split your knowledge by its existing headings — one section per chunk. The author already did the hard structuring for you.
Vibe coder: Add 1–2 sentences of overlap between chunks so an idea that straddles a boundary still shows up in search.
Advanced: Tag every chunk with source + date metadata, filter retrieval by recency, and A/B two chunk sizes against a fixed eval set to measure which actually improves answer quality. |
Takeaway: Chunk on meaning, not character count — every chunk should make sense read alone.
Tuning chunk size and overlap is fiddly trial-and-error — Brainfile chunks and tags your knowledge automatically using the structure it already understands. |
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Know someone fighting the same context problem?
Forward it. Refer 3 friends and we'll send you our private context-template pack.
Refer & get the template pack → |
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