RAG From Zero
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RAG From Zero
This course is part of Rust for Data Engineering Specialization
Instructor: Noah Gift
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What you'll learn
Apply the five-stage RAG pipeline (encode, chunk, index, fuse, retrieve) using the aprender-rag crate against a real corpus
Analyze recursive-chunking overlap and reciprocal-rank-fusion k for the recall-vs-noise trade-off
Evaluate pmat query enrichment flags (--churn, --duplicates, --entropy, --faults, -G) for ranking source-code search by intent
Skills you'll gain
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May 2026
2 assignments
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There are 3 modules in this course
RAG from Zero is a hands-on two-module course that teaches you to build production Retrieval-Augmented Generation pipelines in Rust by walking two real tools you can use the same day. Module 1 walks the encode-chunk-index-fuse-retrieve pipeline one stage at a time using the published aprender-rag crate β RecursiveChunker(512, 50) with overlap, MockEmbedder(384) for deterministic teaching with candle for production, reciprocal-rank fusion at k=60, and a closing aprender_film_search demo against a 50-row Sakila fixture that asserts four runtime contracts. Module 2 walks pmat query, a production code-search RAG that ranks by semantic intent plus pagerank plus structural signals β --churn (90-day git volatility), --duplicates (MinHash + Locality-Sensitive Hashing clones), --entropy (pattern diversity), --faults, and -G git-history fusion. The course closes with cross-project search across a sibling-repo workspace via --include-project and --include-source so you can navigate a multi-crate codebase as one indexed corpus. No toy fixtures, no aspirational APIs β aprender-rag is on crates.io today, pmat ships from paiml/pmat, and the companion paiml/rag-from-zero repo runs end-to-end with cargo run and zero infrastructure.
Build a complete five-stage RAG pipeline (encode β chunk β index β fuse β retrieve) in pure Rust with aprender-rag. You'll wire RecursiveChunker(512, 50) for 50-character overlap that repairs query seams, MockEmbedder(384) for deterministic teaching-grade embeddings (no GPU, no model download, no network), and FusionStrategy::Rrf { k: 60 } for reciprocal rank fusion that lifts long-tail recall without learned weights. The closing demo runs aprender_film_search against a 50-row Sakila film fixture and emits top-5 JSON with four runtime assert! contracts that fire if anything drifts.
What's included
5 videos4 readings1 assignment1 ungraded lab
5 videosβ’Total 16 minutes
- What RAG Isβ’4 minutes
- Recursive Chunkingβ’3 minutes
- Embeddings: Mock vs Realβ’3 minutes
- Reciprocal Rank Fusionβ’3 minutes
- Demo: aprender_film_searchβ’2 minutes
4 readingsβ’Total 35 minutes
- About This Courseβ’10 minutes
- Key Terms: aprender-rag and the Five-Stage Pipelineβ’10 minutes
- Meet pmat: Production Code Search You'll Use Todayβ’5 minutes
- Reflection: One Pipeline, Every Backendβ’10 minutes
1 assignmentβ’Total 5 minutes
- aprender-rag β In-Process Text RAGβ’5 minutes
1 ungraded labβ’Total 60 minutes
- Module 1: One query, three modesβ’60 minutes
Apply the same five-stage RAG pipeline to source code instead of text. The pmat query tool indexes a workspace where chunks are functions, then layers production-grade enrichment on top: search modes (--literal for exact ripgrep-style match, --regex for pattern, semantic by default), enrichment flags (--churn for 90-day Git volatility, --duplicates for MinHash+LSH clone detection, --entropy for diversity, --faults for Batuta unwrap/panic/unsafe annotations, -G for git-history RRF fusion), and the --coverage-gaps mode that ranks every function by uncovered line count so you write tests for the highest-leverage gaps first.
What's included
5 videos2 readings
5 videosβ’Total 17 minutes
- pmat query Architectureβ’4 minutes
- Enrichment Flagsβ’4 minutes
- Search Modes: Literal, Regex, Semanticβ’3 minutes
- Coverage Gaps Modeβ’3 minutes
- Demo: pmat query in a Real Codebaseβ’3 minutes
2 readingsβ’Total 20 minutes
- Key Terms: pmat query and Search Modesβ’10 minutes
- Reflection: Same Pipeline, Source-Code Corpusβ’10 minutes
Build a Final Capstone Project on RAG
What's included
3 readings1 assignment
3 readingsβ’Total 260 minutes
- Capstone: Three-Backend RAG with Provable Contractsβ’240 minutes
- Before You Goβ’10 minutes
- Next Stepsβ’10 minutes
1 assignmentβ’Total 15 minutes
- Final Graded Quizβ’15 minutes
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