Problem
RAG systems can retrieve plausible text while still producing unsupported claims or overconfident answers.
Solution
The pipeline separates retrieval, evidence synthesis, citation verification, and answer policy so unsupported responses can fail closed instead of being presented as fact.
Architecture
Query understanding + routingDense + lexical retrievalRRF fusion + cross-encoder rerankingEvidence synthesisCitation / claim verificationFinal guarded response