# Naive-RAG-First

> Reaching for a vector store before checking whether the answer lives in a database, API, or system prompt.

- **Category**: Agentic AI
- **Subcategory**: Anti-Patterns
- **Canonical URL**: https://designpattern.fyi/patterns/naive_rag_first/

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## Description
**Intent**: Defaulting to semantic search over a vector index because it''s the field''s go-to architecture — before checking where the answer-bearing knowledge actually lives.

**Context**: Teams build knowledge-grounded agents and reach for RAG first. Often the real source is a database, an internal API, a search service, or a small stable document set that would fit in the system prompt. The vector index gets built anyway.

**Solution**: Ask first — does the knowledge live in a tool (database, API, search service)? In a scoped system prompt? In a small inlinable document? Only adopt RAG when those options genuinely don''t work. See tool-use, naive-rag.



## Use Cases
- Never use this; check whether the knowledge belongs in a tool, database, or scoped prompt before adopting RAG.
- Use tool-use when the knowledge lives behind an API or database query.
- Adopt naive-rag only when simpler retrieval stores genuinely don''t work.






## Trade-offs




### Considerations & Drawbacks

- Architectural complexity that pays for nothing

- Retrieval misses that a SQL query would not

- Embedding pipeline maintenance burden for knowledge that barely changes







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**Reference**: [Original Source](https://www.agentpatternscatalog.org/patterns/naive-rag-first/)