---
title: Associate a Content Recommendation (CR) model with a query pipeline
slug: l25f0432
canonical_url: https://docs.coveo.com/en/l25f0432/
collection: leverage-machine-learning
source_format: adoc
---
# Associate a Content Recommendation (CR) model with a query pipeline

When a [Coveo Machine Learning (Coveo ML)](https://docs.coveo.com/en/188/) [model](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1012/) has been created, it must be associated with a [query pipeline](https://docs.coveo.com/en/180/) to be effective in a [search interface](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2741/).

[organization](https://docs.coveo.com/en/185/) [members](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2869/) with the [required privileges](#required-privileges) can access the **Machine learning** tab of a query pipeline configuration page to manage Coveo ML model associations for that query pipeline.

## Leading practices

## Test the model efficiency

Once you've created a Coveo ML CR model, the leading practice is to test the model performance by doing an [A/B test](https://docs.coveo.com/en/3255/).

This allows you to test the model on a chosen proportion of the traffic passing through a given query pipeline.
You can then assess the impact of the model by comparing the query pipeline [search performance metrics](https://docs.coveo.com/en/3255#key-performance-indicators-section) with and without the model.

Once satisfied with the model efficiency, you can [stop the A/B test](https://docs.coveo.com/en/3255#stop-an-ab-test) to make the model effective for all the traffic passing through the query pipeline.

## Validate that the model is effective

To validate that your Coveo ML models work as expected, you can [inspect your models](https://docs.coveo.com/en/mc2g0297/).

## Plan the usage of custom contexts

While Coveo ML models can perform well without custom [context](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1345/) information, using custom contexts can take Coveo ML relevance one step further.

You can [define custom contexts](https://docs.coveo.com/en/3389/) and then pass appropriate ones along with [Coveo Analytics events](https://docs.coveo.com/en/260/) and [queries](https://docs.coveo.com/en/231/) to allow Coveo ML to take them into account.

> **Notes**
>
> * Custom context support is limited under the new [Event Protocol](https://docs.coveo.com/en/o88d0509#custom-context).
> * If you're just getting started with Coveo ML, you can skip this step to take advantage of Coveo ML model types more quickly and easily, and consider using custom contexts in a second phase.

:leveloffset!:

## Associate a CR model

> **Important**
>
> Follow the [model association leading practices](https://docs.coveo.com/en/l25f0432#leading-practices) when associating your model with your query pipeline.

. On the [**Query Pipelines**](https://platform.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) ([platform-ca](https://platform-ca.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-eu](https://platform-eu.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-au](https://platform-au.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/)) page, click the query pipeline for which you want to associate the model, and then click **Edit components** in the Action bar.

. On the subpage that opens, select the **Machine learning** tab, and then in the upper-right corner, click **Associate model**.

. In the **Model** dropdown menu, select the desired model.


> **Important**
>
> CR models should not be associated with pipelines that contain other model types.

. On the right side, under **Condition**, you can select a [query pipeline condition](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2793/) in the dropdown menu or [create a new one](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1959#create-a-condition).

. Click **Associate model**.

> **Leading practice**
>
> Associate all the CR models that serve a single use case to the same pipeline and assign each CR model its own condition.
> 
> For example, if you have multiple CR models that serve the same [search hub](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1342/), you could group them in the same query pipeline and assign each model a condition that triggers the model when appropriate (for example, **Context[userRole] is supportAgent**).

> **Note**
>
> Now that your CR model is associated with a pipeline, you must include a Coveo JavaScript Search `Recommendation` component in your website pages where you want to show recommendations from this model (see [Deploy Content Recommendations (CR)](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1886#JScomponent)).

## Edit a CR model association

> **Important**
>
> Follow the [model association leading practices](https://docs.coveo.com/en/l25f0432#leading-practices) when associating your model with your query pipeline.

. On the [**Query Pipelines**](https://platform.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) ([platform-ca](https://platform-ca.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-eu](https://platform-eu.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-au](https://platform-au.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/)) page, click the query pipeline for which you want to edit a model association, and then click **Edit components** in the Action bar.

. On the subpage that opens, select the **Machine learning** tab, click the desired model, and then click **Edit** in the Action bar.

. On the right side, under **Condition**, you can select a [query pipeline condition](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2793/) in the dropdown menu or [create a new one](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1959#create-a-condition).

. Click **Save**.

> **Leading practice**
>
> Associate all the CR models that serve a single use case to the same pipeline and assign each CR model its own condition.
> 
> For example, if you have multiple CR models that serve the same [search hub](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1342/), you could group them in the same query pipeline and assign each model a condition that triggers the model when appropriate (for example, **Context[userRole] is supportAgent**).

> **Note**
>
> Now that your CR model is associated with a pipeline, you must include a Coveo JavaScript Search `Recommendation` component in your website pages where you want to show recommendations from this model (see [Deploy Content Recommendations (CR)](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1886#JScomponent)).

## Associate a CR model via a JSON configuration

Advanced users may want to manage a model association via a JSON configuration to specify [association parameters](https://docs.coveo.com/en//3399/) that don't fit with the parameters available in the [Administration Console](https://docs.coveo.com/en/183/).

. On the [**Query Pipelines**](https://platform.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) ([platform-ca](https://platform-ca.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-eu](https://platform-eu.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-au](https://platform-au.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/)) page, click the query pipeline for which you want to associate a model, and then click **Edit components** in the Action bar.

. On the subpage that opens, select the **Machine learning** tab, and then in the upper-right corner, click [dots], and select **Associate a model in JSON view**.

. On the **Associate a Model** subpage, in JSON view, replace the `<Model_ID>` placeholder with the actual `ID` of the model you want to associate with the pipeline (see [Review model information](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1894/)).

. Click **Associate model**.

## Edit a CR model association via a JSON configuration

Advanced users may want to manage a model association via a JSON configuration to specify [association parameters](https://docs.coveo.com/en//3399/) that don't fit with the parameters available in the [Administration Console](https://docs.coveo.com/en/183/).

. On the [**Query Pipelines**](https://platform.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) ([platform-ca](https://platform-ca.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-eu](https://platform-eu.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-au](https://platform-au.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/)) page, click the query pipeline for which you want to edit a model association, and then click **Edit components** in the Action bar.

. On the **Machine learning** tab, double-click the desired model.

. If the **Edit a Model Association** subpage opens in JSON view, proceed to the next step.
Otherwise, in the upper-right corner, click [dots], click **Switch to JSON view**, and then click **Switch to JSON view** in the confirmation window.

. On the **Edit a Model Association** subpage, in JSON view, tune the JSON model association configuration as needed (see [Model association parameters](https://docs.coveo.com/en//3399/)).

. Click **Save**.


## Dissociate a model

. On the [**Query Pipelines**](https://platform.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) ([platform-ca](https://platform-ca.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-eu](https://platform-eu.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-au](https://platform-au.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/)) page, click the query pipeline from which you want to dissociate a model, and then click **Edit components** in the Action bar.

. On the subpage that opens, select the **Machine learning** tab.

. Click the model you want to dissociate from the pipeline, and then click **Dissociate** in the Action bar.

## Reorder model associations

The order in which [models](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1012/) appear in the query pipeline **Machine learning** tab is only relevant when multiple models of the same type are present.
If there are no duplicate model types in the list, the model order has no effect as each model will either execute or not based on its individual condition.

However, when multiple models of the same type are present, the models are evaluated sequentially from top to bottom.
The first model with a satisfied condition is executed, and all subsequent models of the same type are ignored.

To reorder model associations in a query pipeline

. On the [**Query Pipelines**](https://platform.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) ([platform-ca](https://platform-ca.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-eu](https://platform-eu.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/) | [platform-au](https://platform-au.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/search/pipelines/)) page, click the query pipeline in which you want to reorder model associations, and then click **Edit components** in the Action bar.

. On the subpage that opens, select the **Machine learning** tab.

. Click the model whose position you want to change, and then use the **Move up** or **Move down** arrows in the Action bar to change the position of the model.

## Reference

### Model association parameters

You can use the following parameters when creating or editing a Coveo ML pass:q,a[CR] model association.

## `id` (string)

The unique identifier of the model association (automatically generated by the Coveo Search API).

**Example**: `62579f33-a505-4d07-b77d-545aefb2eea1`

## `position` (integer [int32])

The position of the model in the order of execution (see [Reorder model associations](#reorder-model-associations)).

**Example**: `8`

## `modelId` (string)

The unique identifier of the model (see [Review model information](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1894/)).

**Example**: `c7ab60e2-e6b8-41e8-be6a-ad5c8edc662e`

## `modelDisplayName` (string)

The name of the model as selected when [creating the model](https://docs.coveo.com/en/3399/).
This field is automatically filled with the name of the Coveo ML model.

**Example**: `MyModelName`

## `modelEngine` (string)

The ID of the Coveo ML model.
This field is automatically filled with the ID of the Coveo ML model.

**Example**: `pass:q,a[eventrecommendation]`

## `modelStatus` (string)

The [status](https://docs.coveo.com/en/3399#status-column) of the model.
This field is automatically generated according to the current ML model status.

**Example**: `ONLINE`

## `condition` (string)

The unique identifier of the [condition](https://docs.coveo.com/en/2793/) that must be satisfied for a request to be processed by the ML model.

**Example**: `c7ab60e2-e6b8-41e8-be6a-ad5c8edc662e`

## `conditionDefinition` (string)

The QPL expression that indicates the condition defined for the model association (see [Query Pipeline Language (QPL)](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1449/)).
This field is automatically filled when a [`condition`](#condition-string) is specified.

**Example**: `when $searchHub is \"internalSearch\"`

## `cacheMaximumAge` (string)

The maximum age of cached [query](https://docs.coveo.com/en/231/) results the ML model should accept, in the [ISO-8601](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601#Time_intervals) format only including the seconds and milliseconds part.

For each incoming query to be processed by the ML model, if a result set for an identical previously made query is available in the cache and this result set isn't older than the specified value, the ML model makes recommendations based on that cached query result set. Otherwise, the query is executed against the index.

**Default**: `PT105`

## `locale` (string)

The locale of the current user.
Adding a `locale` parameter to a model association allows Coveo ML to provide more relevant recommendations by taking into account the user's language and regional preferences.

**Example**

The `locale` for a user in the United States would be: `en-US`.

## `rankingModifier` (integer [int32])

The ranking score modifier the ML model should apply to each item it recommends.

**Default**: `0`

## `exclusive` (boolean)

Whether the Search API should only return items which were recommended by the ML model, even if other items matching the query were found in the index.

**Default**: `true`

## `customQueryParameters` (JValue (object))

A JSON object representing the [additional parameters](https://docs.coveo.com/en/13#operation/searchUsingPost-mlParameters) to send to Coveo ML on all queries.

You can use this object, for instance, to configure your CR model to recommend the most popular or trending items by using the `padding` parameter.

**Examples**

* You want a CR model to recommend the most viewed items only, regardless of the item the user is currently looking at.
Therefore, you configure the `maxActionsHistoryItemsToConsider` [`mlParameter`](https://docs.coveo.com/en/13#operation/searchUsingPost-mlParameters) to `0` and `padding` to the `popular` value as follows:


```json
{
  "position": 1,
  "modelId": "XXXXXX_eventrecommendation_XXXXXXXX_XXXX_XXXX_XXXX_XXXXXXXXXXXX",
  "condition": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX",
  "modelEngine": "eventrecommendation",
  "rankingModifier": 1000,
  "cacheMaximumAge": "PT10S",
  "exclusive": true,
  "customQueryParameters": {
    "maxActionsHistoryItemsToConsider": 0, <1>
    "padding": "popular" <2>
  },
  "useAdvancedConfiguration": false
}
```


<1> Sets the `maxActionsHistoryItemsToConsider` parameter to `0`, meaning that the model don't consider any events in the [`actionsHistory`](https://docs.coveo.com/en/13#operation/searchUsingPost-actionsHistory) array of the request.
<2> Sets the `padding` parameter to the `popular` value so that the model uses the most popular items as recommendations.

* You want your recommendation interface to always display 10 recommended items, even if the model cannot provide the requested number of recommendations. Therefore, you configure the `padding` [`mlParameter`](https://docs.coveo.com/en/13#operation/searchUsingPost-mlParameters) to the `popular` value and the `num` parameter to `10`.


```json
{
  "position": 1,
  "modelId": "XXXXXX_eventrecommendation_XXXXXXXX_XXXX_XXXX_XXXX_XXXXXXXXXXXX",
  "condition": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX",
  "modelEngine": "eventrecommendation",
  "rankingModifier": 1000,
  "cacheMaximumAge": "PT10S",
  "exclusive": true,
  "customQueryParameters": {
    "padding": "popular", <1>
    "num": 10 <2>
  },
  "useAdvancedConfiguration": false
}
```


<1> Sets the `padding` parameter to the `popular` value to fill a potential lack of available candidate items with most popular documents.
<2> Sets the `num` parameter to `10` to ensure that 10 recommendations are returned. Note that the `num` `mlParameter` indicates the maximum number of recommendations that the model returns before the Coveo Search API and the index apply subsequent filters, such as query pipeline rules or item permissions.

## `maxRecommendations` (integer [int32])

The maximum number of recommendations the ML model should return.

**Default**: `10`

> **Note**
>
> The `maxRecommendations` parameter value indicates the maximum number of recommendations that the model returns before the Coveo Search API and the index apply subsequent filters (for example,
> query pipeline rules or item permission).
> 
> For example, a query pipeline containing a recommendation model can be configured to return five recommendations.
> Since some of the items that the model can recommend are not accessible to the user or have been filtered out by a query pipeline rule, the user sees only three recommended items.
> 
> Setting `maxRecommendations` to a higher value lets the model query for more items, ensuring that the user obtains the expected number of recommendations.

:leveloffset!:

### Code sample

The following code sample shows a [CR](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1016/) model association in JSON:

```json
{
  "position": 1,
  "modelId": "XXXXXX_eventrecommendation_XXXXXXXX_XXXX_XXXX_XXXX_XXXXXXXXXXXX",
  "condition": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX",
  "useAdvancedConfiguration": false
}
```

For complete information on CR model available association parameters, see [CR model association parameters reference](https://docs.coveo.com/en/l25f0432#model-association-parameters).

## Required privileges

By default, members with the [required privileges](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1832#required-privileges) can view and edit elements of the [**Models**](https://platform.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/ai-and-ml/models/) ([platform-ca](https://platform-ca.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/ai-and-ml/models/) | [platform-eu](https://platform-eu.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/ai-and-ml/models/) | [platform-au](https://platform-au.cloud.coveo.com/admin/#/orgid/ai-and-ml/models/)) page.

The following table indicates the privileges required to use elements of the **Models** page and associated panels (see [Manage privileges](https://docs.coveo.com/en/3151/) and [Privilege reference](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1707/)).

[cols="3",options="header"]
|===
|Action
|Service - Domain
|Required access level

|View model associations
|Machine Learning - Models  
Organization - Organization  
Search - Query pipelines
|View

.2+|Edit model associations
|Organization - Organization  
Machine Learning - Models
|View

|Search - Query pipelines
|Edit
|===