Skip to content

DSP Pipeline Architecture: Examples and Use Cases

Document Type: Knowledge Base - Pipeline Architecture Examples
Created: 2025-10-20
Last Updated: 2025-10-20
Confidence Level: High
Source: Synthesized from DSP research papers and framework analysis
Purpose: Provide concrete examples and use cases for DSP pipeline architecture implementation

Overview

This document provides detailed examples and real-world use cases of DSP pipeline architecture, demonstrating how the three fundamental operations (Demonstrate-Search-Predict) compose into sophisticated multi-stage reasoning systems.

Pipeline Architecture Fundamentals

Core Concept: Compositional Programming

DSP's pipeline architecture is built on systematic problem decomposition - breaking down complex knowledge-intensive tasks into smaller, manageable transformations that Language Models (LM) and Retrieval Models (RM) can handle reliably.

Key Principle: Natural language texts are passed between LM and RM in multiple, intricate steps, not just a single retrieve-then-read operation.

Architectural Philosophy

  1. Explicit Information Flow: Developer defines when and how components interact
  2. Natural Language Interface: Text-based communication between all components
  3. Grounded Processing: Every prediction explicitly based on retrieved evidence
  4. Pipeline Awareness: Demonstrations and predictions understand the full pipeline context

Concrete Pipeline Examples

Example 1: Multi-Hop Question Answering Pipeline

Task: Answer questions requiring information synthesis from multiple sources.

Question: "What year did the director of Inception win his first Oscar?"

Pipeline Architecture

Stage 1: SEARCH (Initial Information Gathering)
├─ Input Query: "Inception director"
├─ Retrieval Action: Search knowledge base for movie information
└─ Retrieved Context: "Christopher Nolan directed Inception (2010)..."

Stage 2: PREDICT (Intermediate Reasoning)
├─ Input: Original question + Retrieved context from Stage 1
├─ Task: Extract entity and formulate new search query
├─ Reasoning: Identify that Christopher Nolan is the director
└─ Output: New search query: "Christopher Nolan first Oscar win year"

Stage 3: SEARCH (Follow-up Information Gathering)
├─ Input Query: Generated query from Stage 2
├─ Retrieval Action: Search for specific person's achievements
└─ Retrieved Context: "Christopher Nolan won his first Academy Award in 2024 for Oppenheimer..."

Stage 4: PREDICT (Final Synthesis)
├─ Input: Original question + All retrieved contexts
├─ Task: Synthesize comprehensive, grounded answer
├─ Reasoning: Combine information from both retrieval steps
└─ Output: "2024 (Christopher Nolan, director of Inception, won his first Oscar for Oppenheimer)"

Key Innovation Points

  1. Multi-Stage Retrieval: Two separate search operations, each targeted at different information needs
  2. Intermediate Prediction: LM used to decompose complex question into manageable sub-questions
  3. Grounded Synthesis: Final answer explicitly references all retrieved evidence
  4. Natural Flow: Each stage builds on previous results through natural language

Performance Context

Multi-hop reasoning tasks showed 8-39% improvements over standard retrieve-then-read pipelines, demonstrating the value of sophisticated composition.

Example 2: Open-Domain Question Answering

Task: Answer general knowledge questions with retrieval augmentation.

Question: "What is the capital of the country where Mount Fuji is located?"

Pipeline Architecture

Stage 1: DEMONSTRATE
├─ Purpose: Load pipeline-aware examples
├─ Examples Include:
│   ├─ How to use retrieved context effectively
│   ├─ How to identify relevant information in passages
│   ├─ How to formulate grounded answers with evidence
│   └─ Patterns for geographic/factual queries
└─ Guidance: Shows the LM how to process this type of question

Stage 2: SEARCH
├─ Input Query: "Mount Fuji location capital"
├─ Retrieval Action: Search for geographic information
└─ Retrieved Context: [
│   "Mount Fuji is located on Honshu island in Japan...",
│   "Tokyo is the capital city of Japan...",
│   "Mount Fuji is Japan's tallest mountain..."
│   ]

Stage 3: PREDICT
├─ Input: Question + Demonstrations + Retrieved passages
├─ Process: Ground answer in retrieved evidence
├─ Reasoning Steps:
│   1. Identify country from context (Japan)
│   2. Locate capital information (Tokyo)
│   3. Synthesize coherent answer with evidence
└─ Output: "Tokyo (Mount Fuji is located in Japan, and Tokyo is Japan's capital)"

Key Innovation Points

  1. Pipeline-Aware Demonstrations: Examples show how to use the entire pipeline, not just end-to-end examples
  2. Evidence Grounding: Answer explicitly references retrieved passages
  3. Clear Reasoning Path: Each step is transparent and verifiable
  4. Single-Pass Efficiency: For simpler questions, single retrieval may suffice

Performance Context

Open-domain QA demonstrated 37-120% relative gains over vanilla GPT-3.5, showing dramatic improvement through retrieval augmentation.

Example 3: Conversational Question Answering

Task: Answer questions in dialogue context where information needs evolve across turns.

Pipeline Architecture

Turn 1:
User: "Tell me about quantum computing."

Pipeline Execution:
├─ DEMONSTRATE: Load conversational QA examples
├─ SEARCH: Query "quantum computing basics overview"
├─ Retrieved: Comprehensive passages about quantum computing fundamentals
├─ PREDICT: Generate informative response grounded in retrieved context
└─ Output: [Detailed explanation with evidence]

Turn 2:
User: "Who invented it?"

Pipeline Execution:
├─ Context: Previous turn + conversation history
├─ PREDICT: Resolve reference ("it" = quantum computing from Turn 1)
├─ SEARCH: Query "quantum computing inventor history" + conversation context
├─ Retrieved: Information about early quantum computing pioneers
├─ PREDICT: Answer grounded in conversation history + new retrieval
└─ Output: "Multiple physicists contributed to quantum computing's development, including Richard Feynman (1981) and David Deutsch (1985)..."

Turn 3:
User: "What were their other contributions?"

Pipeline Execution:
├─ Context: Full conversation history
├─ PREDICT: Extract entities from conversation (Feynman and Deutsch)
├─ SEARCH: Targeted queries for each person's contributions
├─ Retrieved: Comprehensive information about both physicists' work
├─ PREDICT: Synthesize comprehensive answer using all conversation context
└─ Output: [Detailed response about both physicists' broader contributions]

Key Innovation Points

  1. Context Accumulation: Pipeline maintains and uses conversation history
  2. Reference Resolution: LM used to resolve pronouns and references before search
  3. Dynamic Retrieval: Search queries adapt based on conversation state
  4. Multi-Turn Coherence: Each response builds on previous context

Performance Context

Conversational QA achieved 80-290% relative gains vs. contemporary self-ask pipelines, showing exceptional performance in dialogue scenarios.

Real-World Use Cases

Use Case 1: Research Assistant System

Scenario: Academic research paper analysis and synthesis

Business Requirements: - Summarize recent research in specific domains - Synthesize information from multiple papers - Provide citations and evidence trails - Handle complex, multi-aspect queries

Pipeline Architecture

User Query: "Summarize recent advances in transformer architectures"

Stage 1: DEMONSTRATE
├─ Load Examples:
│   ├─ Good research summaries with proper structure
│   ├─ Citation formats and source attribution
│   ├─ Synthesis patterns for academic content
│   └─ Multi-paper integration techniques
└─ Purpose: Guide LM in academic writing patterns

Stage 2: SEARCH (Initial Pass - Broad Discovery)
├─ Query: "transformer architecture advances 2023-2024"
├─ Retrieval Scope: Recent papers, articles, preprints
└─ Retrieved: [10-20 relevant research papers]

Stage 3: PREDICT (Analysis & Decomposition)
├─ Input: Retrieved papers + demonstrations
├─ Tasks:
│   ├─ Extract key research themes
│   ├─ Identify major innovations
│   ├─ Recognize research clusters
│   └─ Generate follow-up queries for deeper investigation
└─ Output: [List of themes: "Efficient attention mechanisms", "Long-context modeling", ...]

Stage 4: SEARCH (Deep Dive - Targeted Investigation)
├─ Execute Refined Queries:
│   ├─ "efficient attention mechanisms transformers 2024"
│   ├─ "long context transformer architectures"
│   └─ [Additional targeted queries for each theme]
└─ Retrieved: [Detailed technical papers for each theme]

Stage 5: PREDICT (Synthesis & Generation)
├─ Input: All retrieved information + demonstrations
├─ Tasks:
│   ├─ Combine information from all retrieval passes
│   ├─ Organize by themes and importance
│   ├─ Generate comprehensive summary
│   └─ Include proper citations for all claims
└─ Output: [Comprehensive, grounded research summary with citations]

Benefits

  • Systematic Information Gathering: Multiple targeted retrieval passes
  • Grounded in Research: Every claim backed by retrieved papers
  • Multi-Step Reasoning: Complex synthesis through pipeline stages
  • Evidence Trail: Clear provenance for all information

Expected Performance

Based on multi-hop reasoning benchmarks, expect 8-39% improvement over simple retrieve-then-read approaches for complex research queries.

Use Case 2: Customer Support Knowledge Base

Scenario: Complex technical support requiring multiple information sources

Business Requirements: - Diagnose problems from customer descriptions - Retrieve relevant troubleshooting procedures - Provide step-by-step guidance - Ground responses in official documentation

Pipeline Architecture

Customer Query: "My device won't connect to WiFi after the update"

Stage 1: SEARCH (Problem Identification)
├─ Query: "WiFi connectivity issues after update [device model]"
├─ Retrieval Sources:
│   ├─ Known issues database
│   ├─ Troubleshooting guides
│   └─ Update release notes
└─ Retrieved: [Relevant known issues and initial troubleshooting steps]

Stage 2: PREDICT (Issue Analysis)
├─ Input: Customer query + Retrieved information
├─ Tasks:
│   ├─ Analyze symptoms against known issues
│   ├─ Determine most likely causes
│   ├─ Prioritize troubleshooting approaches
│   └─ Generate targeted queries for solutions
└─ Output: [Identified causes: "Driver incompatibility", "Network settings reset", ...]

Stage 3: SEARCH (Targeted Solutions)
├─ Execute Queries:
│   ├─ "WiFi driver reinstall procedure [device model]"
│   ├─ "network settings restore [device model]"
│   └─ [Additional solution-specific queries]
└─ Retrieved: [Detailed resolution procedures from official docs]

Stage 4: PREDICT (Response Generation)
├─ Input: All context + Retrieved solutions
├─ Tasks:
│   ├─ Synthesize step-by-step troubleshooting guide
│   ├─ Order steps by likelihood of success
│   ├─ Include explanations for each step
│   ├─ Provide alternative solutions
│   └─ Ground all steps in official documentation
└─ Output: [Comprehensive, actionable support response]

Benefits

  • 8-39% Improvement: Over simple retrieve-then-read in support scenarios
  • Multi-Pass Retrieval: Comprehensive solution gathering
  • Grounded Responses: All steps verified against official docs
  • Diagnostic Reasoning: LM helps analyze and prioritize issues

Business Impact

  • Reduced escalation rates
  • Faster issue resolution
  • Consistent, documented solutions
  • Improved customer satisfaction

Scenario: Multi-document legal research and precedent analysis

Business Requirements: - Analyze complex legal questions - Find relevant precedents across multiple cases - Synthesize holdings and principles - Maintain citation accuracy and authority

Pipeline Architecture

Legal Query: "What precedents exist for patent disputes in AI training data?"

Stage 1: DEMONSTRATE
├─ Load Examples:
│   ├─ Legal reasoning patterns
│   ├─ Citation formats (Bluebook, etc.)
│   ├─ Authority hierarchies
│   ├─ Multi-document synthesis approaches
│   └─ Precedent analysis techniques
└─ Purpose: Guide LM in legal analysis methodology

Stage 2: SEARCH (Broad Discovery)
├─ Query: "patent disputes AI training data case law"
├─ Retrieval Sources:
│   ├─ Case law databases
│   ├─ Legal journals
│   ├─ Court opinions
│   └─ Legal analysis articles
└─ Retrieved: [Relevant cases and legal discussions]

Stage 3: PREDICT (Key Concept Extraction)
├─ Input: Retrieved cases + legal demonstrations
├─ Tasks:
│   ├─ Identify key legal concepts
│   ├─ Extract relevant case names
│   ├─ Recognize applicable doctrines
│   └─ Generate targeted queries for each precedent
└─ Output: [List of cases: "Authors Guild v. Google", "Oracle v. Google", ...]

Stage 4: SEARCH (Precedent Deep Dive)
├─ Execute Case-Specific Queries:
│   ├─ "Authors Guild v Google full opinion fair use"
│   ├─ "Oracle v Google API copyright implications"
│   └─ [Additional queries for each identified case]
└─ Retrieved: [Full context, holdings, and implications for each case]

Stage 5: PREDICT (Legal Analysis)
├─ Input: All retrieved case law + demonstrations
├─ Tasks:
│   ├─ Synthesize holdings from all precedents
│   ├─ Analyze relationships between cases
│   ├─ Identify trends and evolving principles
│   ├─ Apply principles to query context (AI training data)
│   └─ Ground every claim in retrieved case law
└─ Output: [Comprehensive legal analysis with proper citations]

Benefits

  • Systematic Precedent Discovery: Multi-stage retrieval finds all relevant cases
  • Deep Analysis: Multiple retrieval passes enable comprehensive understanding
  • Citation Accuracy: Grounding ensures proper legal citation
  • Relationship Mapping: Shows how precedents relate to each other
  • More thorough legal research
  • Reduced research time
  • Comprehensive precedent analysis
  • Reliable citation trails

Pipeline Design Patterns

Pattern 1: Iterative Refinement

Structure:

SEARCH → PREDICT → SEARCH → PREDICT → SEARCH → PREDICT
         (refine)   (deeper)  (synthesize)

Use When: - Information needs evolve based on partial results - Initial query too broad or ambiguous - Requires progressive deepening of understanding

Example Scenario: - Start with general search - Use results to refine understanding - Execute targeted follow-up searches - Iteratively build comprehensive answer

Performance Characteristic: Maximizes relevance through progressive refinement

Pattern 2: Parallel Investigation

Structure:

                    ┌─ SEARCH (aspect A) ─┐
PREDICT (decompose) ├─ SEARCH (aspect B) ─┤ → PREDICT (combine)
                    └─ SEARCH (aspect C) ─┘

Use When: - Complex questions with multiple independent sub-questions - Different aspects require different retrieval strategies - Can parallelize retrieval for efficiency

Example Scenario: - Decompose: "Compare X, Y, and Z" - Search for X, Y, and Z in parallel - Combine results into comparative analysis

Performance Characteristic: Efficiency through parallelization

Pattern 3: Hierarchical Reasoning

Structure:

SEARCH (overview)
PREDICT (identify subtopics)
    ├─ SEARCH (subtopic 1)
    ├─ SEARCH (subtopic 2)  
    └─ SEARCH (subtopic 3)
PREDICT (synthesize hierarchy)

Use When: - Need to build understanding from general to specific - Topic has natural hierarchical structure - Require both breadth and depth

Example Scenario: - Get overview of broad topic - Identify key subtopics - Deep dive into each subtopic - Synthesize hierarchical understanding

Performance Characteristic: Comprehensive coverage with organized structure

Pattern 4: Context Accumulation (Conversational)

Structure:

Turn 1: SEARCH → PREDICT → [context]
Turn 2: [context] + PREDICT (resolve) → SEARCH → PREDICT → [context]
Turn 3: [context] + PREDICT (resolve) → SEARCH → PREDICT → [context]

Use When: - Multi-turn conversations - References to previous context - Evolving information needs across turns

Example Scenario: - Initial question establishes context - Follow-up questions reference previous turns - Pipeline maintains and uses conversation history

Performance Characteristic: 80-290% gains in conversational settings

Key Architectural Principles

1. Pipeline-Aware Demonstrations

Traditional Approach: - Show examples of final answers only - LM learns simple input → output mapping - No guidance on intermediate steps

DSP Approach: - Show examples of each step in the pipeline - Demonstrate how to use retrieved context - Show intermediate reasoning steps - Guide the LM through the entire process

Example Demonstration Structure:

Demo 1: Search Query Formulation
Question: "Who wrote the book that inspired the movie Blade Runner?"
Step: Extract entity → "movie Blade Runner original book"

Demo 2: Context Usage
Retrieved: "Blade Runner (1982) was based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
Step: Extract author from context → "Philip K. Dick"

Demo 3: Answer Synthesis
Question + Context → "Philip K. Dick (author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which inspired Blade Runner)"

Benefits: - LM understands how to perform each pipeline stage - More reliable intermediate transformations - Better context utilization - Reduced hallucination through grounding

2. Grounded Predictions

Principle: Every prediction is explicitly based on: - Retrieved passages (evidence) - Demonstrated patterns (guidance) - Previous pipeline steps (context)

Implementation Approach:

Prediction Input = {
    original_query,
    demonstrations: [pipeline_aware_examples],
    retrieved_context: [passages_from_search],
    pipeline_state: [previous_step_outputs]
}

Benefits: - More reliable outputs - Explainable predictions - Reduced hallucination - Evidence trail for verification

3. Explicit Information Flow

Developer Control Points: 1. When to search: Define search trigger conditions 2. What to search for: Specify query formulation strategy 3. How to process results: Define transformation logic 4. When to generate outputs: Specify prediction conditions 5. How to synthesize: Define combination strategies

Example Control Flow:

// Conceptual explicit flow definition
if needs_background_info(query) {
    context = search(formulate_initial_query(query));
}

if needs_multi_hop(query, context) {
    entities = predict_extract_entities(query, context);
    additional_context = search(formulate_follow_up_query(entities));
    context = merge(context, additional_context);
}

answer = predict_synthesize(query, context, demonstrations);

Benefits: - Full transparency - Predictable behavior - Easy debugging - Clear reasoning path

4. Natural Language Interfaces

Principle: All communication between components uses natural language text, not embeddings or structured data.

Interface Design:

Component Communication:
- LM → Text Query → RM
- RM → Text Passages → LM
- LM → Text Transformation → Next Stage
- All intermediates are human-readable text

Benefits: - Human-interpretable pipeline state - Flexible composition - Easy inspection and debugging - No format conversion overhead

Performance Characteristics

Documented Improvements

Baseline System DSP Improvement Task Type Strategic Insight
Vanilla GPT-3.5 37-120% Open-domain QA Value of retrieval augmentation
Retrieve-then-Read 8-39% Multi-hop reasoning Sophisticated composition matters
Self-Ask Pipeline 80-290% Conversational QA DSP paradigm superiority

Performance Drivers

Why These Gains?

  1. Multi-Step Retrieval: Finds more relevant information through iterative refinement
  2. Pipeline-Aware Demonstrations: Guides effective context usage at each stage
  3. Grounded Predictions: Reduces hallucination by grounding in evidence
  4. Systematic Decomposition: Makes complex tasks manageable through breakdown

Performance Targets for AirsDSP

Based on original DSP benchmarks:

  • Minimum Target: 8% improvement over retrieve-then-read baseline
  • Typical Target: 20-40% improvement in multi-hop scenarios
  • Stretch Target: Match or exceed 37-120% gains in open-domain tasks

AirsDSP Implementation Vision

Conceptual Rust API Design

// High-level pipeline composition
let pipeline = Pipeline::new()
    .demonstrate(examples)      // Load pipeline-aware demonstrations
    .search(initial_query)      // First retrieval pass
    .predict(extract_entities)  // Extract key information
    .search(refined_query)      // Follow-up targeted retrieval
    .predict(synthesize_answer) // Final grounded prediction
    .execute(question)?;

// Multi-hop reasoning example
let multi_hop = Pipeline::new()
    .demonstrate(multi_hop_examples)
    .search(Query::from_question(&question))
    .predict(EntityExtraction::new())
    .search(Query::from_entities)
    .search(Query::from_entities)  // Multiple parallel searches
    .predict(Synthesis::with_grounding())
    .execute(question)?;

// Conversational pipeline with context
let conversational = Pipeline::new()
    .with_context(conversation_history)
    .demonstrate(conversational_examples)
    .predict(ReferenceResolution::new())
    .search(Query::contextual)
    .predict(GroundedResponse::with_history())
    .update_context()
    .execute(user_input)?;

Implementation Goals

  1. Explicit Control: Clear, understandable pipeline definition
  2. Type Safety: Compile-time guarantees for pipeline correctness
  3. Zero-Cost Abstractions: Efficient execution without runtime overhead
  4. Transparency: Full visibility into each stage
  5. Composability: Easy to build complex pipelines from simple operations
  6. Rust Idioms: Leverage Result types, traits, and ownership

Architectural Considerations

Type System Usage:

// Strong typing for pipeline stages
trait Demonstrate {
    fn bootstrap(&self, examples: &[Example]) -> Result<Demonstrations>;
}

trait Search {
    fn retrieve(&self, query: &Query) -> Result<Context>;
}

trait Predict {
    fn generate(&self, input: &PredictInput) -> Result<Prediction>;
}

// Pipeline composition with type safety
struct Pipeline<S> {
    state: S,
    // State transitions enforced at compile time
}

Performance Optimization: - Zero-cost abstractions for composition - Efficient text processing - Concurrent execution where applicable - Memory-efficient context management

Comparison with Alternative Approaches

DSP vs. Simple Retrieve-Then-Read

Aspect Retrieve-Then-Read DSP Pipeline
Retrieval Passes Single pass Multiple targeted passes
LM Usage Final generation only Intermediate + final steps
Demonstrations End-to-end examples Pipeline-aware examples
Information Flow Linear Multi-stage with feedback
Performance Baseline 8-39% improvement

DSP vs. Vanilla Language Models

Aspect Vanilla LM DSP Pipeline
External Knowledge None Retrieval-augmented
Grounding No explicit grounding Evidence-based predictions
Reasoning Steps Opaque Explicit pipeline stages
Performance Baseline 37-120% improvement

DSP vs. Other Pipelines (e.g., Self-Ask)

Aspect Other Pipelines DSP Pipeline
Composition Fixed patterns Flexible composition
Demonstrations Limited or none Pipeline-aware
Multi-hop Basic support Sophisticated multi-stage
Performance Contemporary baseline 80-290% improvement

Implementation Priorities for AirsDSP

Phase 1: Core Operations

  1. Demonstrate Implementation
  2. Example loading and management
  3. Pipeline-aware demonstration structure
  4. Context injection mechanisms

  5. Search Implementation

  6. RM integration interface
  7. Query formulation support
  8. Context retrieval and management

  9. Predict Implementation

  10. LM integration interface
  11. Grounded prediction generation
  12. Context-aware processing

Phase 2: Pipeline Composition

  1. Composition API
  2. Pipeline builder pattern
  3. Stage composition primitives
  4. Type-safe transitions

  5. Execution Engine

  6. Stage orchestration
  7. Context threading
  8. Error handling

  9. State Management

  10. Pipeline state tracking
  11. Context accumulation
  12. Intermediate result storage

Phase 3: Advanced Patterns

  1. Design Pattern Support
  2. Iterative refinement helpers
  3. Parallel investigation support
  4. Hierarchical reasoning templates
  5. Conversational context management

  6. Performance Optimization

  7. Efficient text processing
  8. Concurrent execution support
  9. Memory optimization
  10. Caching strategies

  11. Developer Experience

  12. Clear error messages
  13. Pipeline visualization
  14. Debugging support
  15. Comprehensive documentation

Testing and Validation

Performance Benchmarks

Target Metrics: - Open-domain QA: Aim for 37%+ improvement over vanilla LM - Multi-hop reasoning: Target 8%+ improvement over retrieve-then-read - Conversational QA: Pursue 80%+ improvement over baselines

Benchmark Datasets: - Use standard NLP benchmark datasets - Create AirsDSP-specific test suites - Include multi-hop reasoning challenges

Validation Approach

  1. Correctness Testing
  2. Unit tests for each operation
  3. Integration tests for pipelines
  4. End-to-end scenario validation

  5. Performance Testing

  6. Benchmark against baselines
  7. Compare with original DSP results
  8. Measure Rust-specific improvements

  9. Developer Experience Testing

  10. API usability evaluation
  11. Documentation completeness
  12. Example pipeline clarity

Primary Research Sources

  1. Khattab, O., et al. (2022). Demonstrate-Search-Predict: Composing retrieval and language models for knowledge-intensive NLP. arXiv:2212.14024 [cs.CL].
  • DSP Framework Core: dsp_framework_core.md
  • DSP Original Paper Detailed: dsp_original_paper_detailed.md
  • DSP Paper Comprehensive Analysis: dsp_paper_comprehensive_analysis.md
  • DSP/DSPy Evolution: dsp_dspy_evolution.md
  • DSP/DSPy Comparative Evolution: dsp_dspy_comparative_evolution.md

Implementation References

  • AGENTS.md: Project-level guidance and standards
  • Memory Bank: Sub-project context and decisions
  • Workspace Standards: Code quality and enforcement guidelines

Key Takeaways

For Architecture Design

  1. Multi-stage pipelines dramatically outperform simple approaches
  2. Pipeline-aware demonstrations are critical for effectiveness
  3. Grounded predictions reduce hallucination and improve reliability
  4. Explicit control enables transparency and debuggability
  5. Natural language interfaces provide flexibility and composability

For Implementation

  1. Three operations are the foundation: Demonstrate, Search, Predict
  2. Composition patterns enable sophisticated reasoning flows
  3. Type safety can enforce correct pipeline construction
  4. Zero-cost abstractions maintain Rust performance advantages
  5. Clear APIs are essential for developer adoption

For Performance

  1. 37-120% gains over vanilla LMs validate retrieval augmentation
  2. 8-39% gains over retrieve-then-read justify sophisticated composition
  3. 80-290% gains in conversational settings show pattern strengths
  4. Multi-hop reasoning benefits most from pipeline sophistication
  5. Evidence grounding improves reliability and explainability

Document Status: Complete
Implementation Readiness: High - Ready for architecture design and implementation
Next Steps: Use these examples to guide AirsDSP pipeline API design and implementation priorities