KCAE.INDEX:4.1 - Specify the retrieval operations and their source units

Start with the question families from KCAE.USE and the addressable units from KCAE.SOURCE. Define what each route returns: source edition, unit identifier, matched text or span, route and query used, ranking value with its local meaning, and a way to open the reading unit. Preserve version, permission and authority metadata independently of the score. The first interface is a candidate-finding operation; it does not claim that the material supports the user’s action.

Build an exact reader and an inventory enumerator even when semantic retrieval is the primary discovery route. The enumerator lists the permitted units in a selected snapshot without requiring a relevance match. It enables update validation and a direct original scan. A source corpus that cannot be enumerated can still be searched through its provider, but the independent-scan promise is then bounded by what that provider actually exposes.

Choose retrieval units by the distinctions the queries need. Index whole source bodies through bounded units, including examples, appendices and footnotes where they can matter. Index titles, controlled vocabulary and summaries as additional fields or views. Keep their source spans and derivation separate so that a hit from an explanatory prefix cannot be misquoted as original text. KCAE.SOURCE supplies the expansion from a small hit to its enclosing conditions.