Vector Embedded Retrieval Archive

Give AI agents the ability to search PDFs and document libraries using keyword, semantic, or hybrid retrieval. VERA stores text, embeddings, figures, and citation metadata in portable .vera files, enabling local search without a separate vector database.

VERA

VERA allows AI agents to search PDFs and local document libraries, retrieve relevant passages, and produce answers grounded in the original source.

The VERA CLI converts PDFs into portable .vera archives containing document chunks, embeddings, figures, and citation metadata. These archives support local keyword, semantic, and hybrid retrieval without requiring a separate vector database or retrieval service.

Use vera-cli to retrieve grounded evidence from .vera archives. Prefer JSON output, evaluate the returned text rather than relying on scores alone, and cite the source page and heading for every document-backed claim.

Before running commands

1. Check whether vera --help succeeds.
2. If the console script is unavailable, try python -m vera_cli --help.
3. If neither works, tell the user that vera-cli must be installed. Do not install packages or modify the environment unless the user has authorized those changes.
4. Quote paths and queries according to the active shell.

Use vera in the examples below. Substitute python -m vera_cli when necessary.

Read references/cli-reference.md before using commands beyond ordinary search or when exact JSON, field, and exit-code behavior matters. Read references/retrieval-workflows.md for multi-step research, corpus searches, identifier lookup, figure retrieval, and insufficient-evidence workflows.

Default search workflow

1. Identify the .vera archive or directory and the question.

2. Begin with a high-recall hybrid search:

   bash

   vera search "manual.vera" "stormwater detention requirements" --mode hybrid --top-k 5 --json
   

3. Check the process exit code. On success, parse stdout as one JSON object.

4. Review each result's text, page_start, page_end, heading_path, and source_filename. For directory searches, also retain file.

5. Determine whether the evidence directly answers the question. Refine the query, change modes, or increase coverage when it is incomplete. Do not treat rank or score as proof.

6. Answer only from retrieved evidence and cite every substantive claim.

Search a directory as one corpus by passing the directory instead of a file:

bash

vera search "./library" "stormwater detention requirements" --mode hybrid --top-k 5 --json

Use --recursive for nested directories that are not covered by an index. When searching a directory, inspect index.used and index.reasons rather than assuming an index was used; review skipped_files for malformed archives excluded from the search; and for indexed semantic or hybrid searches review skipped_semantic_model_groups (missing or incompatible query embedders may leave semantic coverage incomplete even when keyword results are returned).

Collection indexes persist under .vera-index/ across process restarts. Status checks and library searches do not rebuild them; use index update after the source library changes.

Choose retrieval options

• Start with --mode hybrid.
• Use --mode keyword for exact phrases, identifiers, section numbers, ordinance or code references, table labels, and document-specific terminology. Confirm the relevant token appears in the returned text; punctuation and short hyphenated identifiers may be tokenized broadly.
• Use --mode semantic for paraphrases, concepts with different wording, purpose or intent, and queries where exact terminology is unknown.
• Add --context-chunks 1 when a hit depends on nearby definitions, exceptions, qualifications, or preceding steps.
• Add --figures for figures, tables, charts, diagrams, maps, and captions.
• Add --regions only when page bounding boxes or visual-grounding coordinates are required.
• Increase --top-k to 10 for broader coverage. Split compound questions into separate searches when each part needs different evidence.

Citations and evidence

Format citations as:

• (source.pdf, p. 42, Chapter 4 > Detention Design)
• (source.pdf, pp. 42-43) when a result spans pages

For directory or corpus searches, preserve both the source archive and the original source filename when available. When comparing documents, keep each source's evidence and conclusions clearly separated.

Treat evidence as strong when the retrieved text directly states the relevant definition, requirement, threshold, procedure, exception, limitation, or conclusion. Search again when a result only shares generic vocabulary, lacks the exact identifier, does not directly support the claim, conflicts with another source, or appears incomplete without surrounding context.

Do not cite a page merely because it ranked highly. Read the returned text and verify that it supports the claim.

For figures, cite the caption and page. --figures returns metadata and captions, not image pixels. Do not claim to have visually inspected an image unless a separate vision-capable tool actually viewed it. Use --regions when page coordinates are needed to highlight retrieved evidence.

Inspect and validate

Use inspection when archive identity, source information, embedding configuration, or metadata matters:

bash

vera inspect "manual.vera" --json

Inspection may report default_embedding_normalization as l2, none, or unknown. Older archives without the field are reported as unknown.

Use validation when the user asks about archive integrity or a search failure suggests that an archive may be malformed:

bash

vera validate "manual.vera" --json

An invalid archive may return exit code 1 while still printing a structured JSON validation report. Read the report before concluding that no useful diagnostic is available.

Commands that write files

search, inspect, validate, and eval are read-only. The following commands create, replace, or modify local files and require normal user authorization:

• convert creates a validated .vera archive and publishes it atomically. Image-based or low-text pages use selective local OCR by default. Use --ocr off only when the user explicitly requests it, or --ocr force when automatic detection misses a scan. English OCR is bundled; other languages require installed Tesseract language data.
• convert --overwrite replaces existing outputs.
• index build and index update write .vera-index/.
• export writes the embedded source document.

Never infer permission to convert, overwrite, index, update, or export from a request that only asks to search, inspect, summarize, or explain a document.

Failure handling

• Always inspect the exit code before trusting output.
• Do not assume every nonzero exit lacks JSON. validate, index status, eval, and a failed export can print useful JSON while returning 1.
• Most missing-path and runtime failures are unstructured tracebacks on stderr. Do not parse stderr as JSON.
• Directory conversion validates existing outputs before skipping them and exits 1 when malformed_existing is nonempty.
• When a command fails, read stdout and stderr separately, check for documented structured JSON, identify the failed path or operation, and report the failure clearly. Do not invent results or silently ignore skipped archives.

Insufficient evidence

When no direct answer is found, report the queries and modes used, describe the closest relevant evidence, explain what is still missing, and suggest a narrower query, another mode, or additional documents when appropriate. Do not turn weakly related text into a definitive answer.

Verification

Before responding, verify that:

• the command completed and its output was interpreted using its documented exit behavior;
• every document-backed claim has a source, page or page range, and heading when available;
• exact identifiers appear in the supporting evidence;
• rank and score were not treated as proof;
• figure claims do not exceed the returned caption or metadata;
• archive or model-group omissions are disclosed when they affect coverage;
• uncertainty and missing evidence are stated explicitly;
• no write operation was performed without authorization.