RAG Freshness Control: Preventing Stale Answers in Fast-Moving Projects
RAG systems fail when retrieval indexes lag behind source changes. You need freshness controls so generated answers reflect current truth, not yesterday’s state.
Step 1: Tag chunks with source commit and indexed timestamp
{
"chunk_id": "c_2041",
"source_commit": "a1b2c3d",
"indexed_at": "2026-03-11T01:05:00Z"
}
Step 2: Reject stale context beyond freshness SLA
def is_fresh(chunk, now, max_age_hours=24):
return (now - chunk.indexed_at).total_seconds() < max_age_hours * 3600
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