Chunking Configuration

A common chunking configuration is a critical element in the data processing pipeline, particularly when creating embeddings and populating vector databases with the results. This configuration defines the parameters governing the segmentation of text into meaningful chunks, whether at the document, paragraph, or sentence level. It plays a pivotal role in determining the size and structure of these chunks, ensuring that they align with the specific requirements of downstream tasks, such as embedding generation and vector database population. By carefully configuring chunking parameters, users can optimize the granularity of data segments, ultimately contributing to more cohesive and contextually rich results. This is crucial for tasks like natural language processing and text analysis, as well as for the efficient storage and retrieval of embeddings in vector databases, enhancing the quality and relevance of the results.

Configs

• chunk_elements (Default: False): (Deprecated) Boolean flag whether to run chunking as part of the ingest process. This option is deprecated in favor of the chunking_strategy option. This option being set True has the same effect as chunking_strategy=by_title.

• chunking_strategy: One of “basic” or “by_title”. When omitted, no chunking is performed. The “basic” strategy maximally fills each chunk with whole elements, up the specified size limits (max_characters and new_after_n_chars described below). A single element that exceeds this length is divided into two or more chunks using text-splitting. A Table element is never combined with any other element and appears as a chunk of its own or as a sequence of TableChunk elements splitting is required. The “by_title” behaviors are the same except that section and optionally page boundaries are respected such that two consecutive elements from different sections appear in separate chunks.

• combine_text_under_n_chars (Default: max_characters): Combines small elements (for example a series of Title elements) until a section reaches a length of n characters. Only operative for the "by_title" chunking strategy. Defaults to max_characters which combines chunks whenever space allows. Specifying 0 for this argument suppresses combining of small chunks.

• include_orig_elements (default: True): Adds the document elements consolidated to form each chunk to the chunk.metadata.orig_elements: list[Element] metadata field. Setting this to false allows for somewhat smaller payloads when you don’t need that metadata.

• max_characters (Default: 500): Combine elements into chunks no larger than n characters (hard max). No chunk with text longer than this value will appear in the output stream.

• multipage_sections (Default: True): When False, in addition to section boundaries, page boundaries are also respected. Only operative for the “by_title” strategy.

• new_after_n_chars (Default: max_characters (off)): Cuts off new chunks once they reach a length of n characters (soft max). Defaults to max_characters when not specified, which effectively disables any soft window. Specifying 0 for this argument causes each element to appear in a chunk by itself (although an element with text longer than max_characters will be still be divided into two or more chunks using text-splitting).