What’s a query pipeline?

This is for:

Developer System Administrator

A query pipeline is a set of rules or model associations you can define to modify queries performed in Coveo-powered search interfaces. When a user searches, the query passes through the pipeline where it can be transformed before reaching the index and before results are returned. Query pipelines let you apply different relevance tuning, filtering, and machine learning features based on which search interface sends the query.

Every Coveo organization includes a default query pipeline that applies to all search interfaces unless you specify otherwise. Create additional pipelines using the Coveo Administration Console when your search interfaces serve different purposes or audiences.

Example

Your customers and partners use your community portal to self-serve and find relevant information, while your support agents use an internal service portal to find relevant public and private items. You can create a separate pipeline for each portal, defining appropriate rules for each search interface audience.

You can also use the query pipeline’s A/B testing feature to evaluate rule or model changes on a subset of users.

When and why to use query pipelines

Use query pipelines when you need to customize search behavior for different audiences, contexts, or purposes.

Common use cases include:

  • Separate audiences with different needs

    Apply different rules or models for different search interfaces geared towards specific user groups.

  • Context-specific filtering

    Automatically filter results based on the search interface (for example, showing only public content in a customer portal while including private content in an internal portal).

  • Relevance tuning per use case

    Boost different types of content depending on whether users are searching for documentation, products, or support articles.

Query pipeline rules

Query pipeline rules can define the following:

  • Search terms

  • Result rankings

    • Featured results - items appearing at the top of search results when the query meets a specific condition.

    • Ranking expressions - modifying the order of results matching specified expressions and conditions.

  • Groups & campaigns - grouping sets of result ranking rules that apply for specific contexts, audiences, or periods of time.

  • Advanced query pipeline rules

    • Filters - adding hidden query expressions to all queries that go through the query pipeline.

    • Query parameters - overriding search parameter values for every query that goes through the query pipeline.

    • Ranking weights - establishing the impact of ranking factors when establishing the order of results.

    • Triggers - establishing actions to be performed in the user search interface following an event when a condition is met.

Query pipeline model associations

The following models can be associated to a query pipeline:

See Manage models.

The features you define in a query pipeline are applied to all queries before they’re sent to the index.

Order of execution

The following diagram illustrates the order of execution of query pipeline features:

Diagram showing order of execution | Coveo

What’s next?

Learn how to create and use a query pipeline.