# How does RAG retrieval work across multiple queries in a single conversation?

**URL:** <https://community.pickaxe.co/t/how-does-rag-retrieval-work-across-multiple-queries-in-a-single-conversation/5551>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** knowledge-base\
**Created:** [May 2, 2025, 5:11am UTC](https://community.pickaxe.co/t/how-does-rag-retrieval-work-across-multiple-queries-in-a-single-conversation/5551 "2025-05-02T05:11:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![transitionlevel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/community.pickaxe.co/transitionlevel/32/3167_2.png) [@transitionlevel](https://community.pickaxe.co/u/transitionlevel)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 5:11am UTC](https://community.pickaxe.co/t/how-does-rag-retrieval-work-across-multiple-queries-in-a-single-conversation/5551/1 "2025-05-02T05:11:12Z")

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I’m using the RAG / knowledge base feature, and I’m curious about how content is fetched from the knowledge base during a multi-turn conversation. Specifically, does Pickaxe only retrieve relevant chunks on the very first query, or does it run additional retrieval calls for subsequent follow-up queries in the same interaction?

I’m concerned about accuracy if the knowledge base is only queried once (as it _feels_ like might be the case). How does the RAG pipeline handle continuity and context across multiple interactions?

Thanks in advance for any guidance or best practices you can share!

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**Author:** ![stephenasuncion](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/community.pickaxe.co/stephenasuncion/32/3111_2.png) [@stephenasuncion](https://community.pickaxe.co/u/stephenasuncion)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://community.pickaxe.co/t/how-does-rag-retrieval-work-across-multiple-queries-in-a-single-conversation/5551/2 "2025-05-12T20:13:54Z")

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Pickaxe retrieves chunks on every query.

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**Author:** ![ab2308](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/community.pickaxe.co/ab2308/32/1542_2.png) [@ab2308](https://community.pickaxe.co/u/ab2308)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 8:11am UTC](https://community.pickaxe.co/t/how-does-rag-retrieval-work-across-multiple-queries-in-a-single-conversation/5551/3 "2025-05-14T08:11:11Z")

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Hi @transitionlevel you can check what chunks have been retrieved on every turn by clicking on the magnifier icon at the bottom of the response. You will notice that based on the question the chuncks vary.

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/uploads/pickaxeproject/original/2X/e/e77e138eccefc98172e557983cfa10a46bb3643e.png)

Also the amount of chuncks and their relevance to the query can be modified in the knowledge settings.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![transitionlevel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex004/user_avatar/community.pickaxe.co/transitionlevel/32/3167_2.png) [@transitionlevel](https://community.pickaxe.co/u/transitionlevel)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 4:32am UTC](https://community.pickaxe.co/t/how-does-rag-retrieval-work-across-multiple-queries-in-a-single-conversation/5551/4 "2025-05-31T04:32:27Z")

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Hi, thanks for that and sorry for the late reply. No data was fetched from the KB. This has since been resolved by starting from an empty knowledgebase.