---
title: Query rewriting
description: Query rewriting is an optional step in the AI Search pipeline that improves retrieval quality for follow-up queries. It applies to both Search and Chat Completions requests.
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/dev-products-preview.png
---

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# Query rewriting

Query rewriting is an optional step in the AI Search pipeline that improves retrieval quality for follow-up queries. It applies to both [Search](https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/api/search/workers-binding/#search) and [Chat Completions](https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/api/search/workers-binding/#chatcompletions) requests.

## Why use query rewriting?

The wording of a user's question may not match how your documents are written. Query rewriting helps bridge this gap by:

* Rephrasing informal or vague queries into precise, information-dense terms
* Adding synonyms or related keywords
* Removing filler words or irrelevant details
* Resolving follow-up queries that reference previous messages (for example, "tell me more about that" becomes a specific query based on conversation history)

This leads to more relevant search matches which improves the accuracy of results and generated responses.

## How it works

Query rewriting requires the `messages` format and does not apply when using the `query` format. The first message is always used as-is. For follow-up queries, AI Search sends the conversation history, the latest user message, and the [query rewrite system prompt](https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/configuration/retrieval/system-prompt/) to the configured LLM. The rewritten query is then embedded and used to perform the search.

## Example

**First message:** `What is Cloudflare Workers?`(used as-is, no rewriting)

**Follow-up message:** `How do I deploy one?` **Rewritten query:** `deploy Cloudflare Worker getting started`

The follow-up "How do I deploy one?" is vague on its own. Query rewriting uses the conversation context to understand "one" refers to a Cloudflare Worker. How the query is rewritten depends on your [query rewrite system prompt](https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/configuration/retrieval/system-prompt/#query-rewriting-system-prompt).

## Considerations

Enabling query rewriting adds an extra LLM call to the query pipeline, which may increase latency.

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/directory/","name":"Directory"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/ai-search/","name":"AI Search"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"/ai-search/configuration/","name":"Configuration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@id":"/ai-search/configuration/retrieval/","name":"Retrieval"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@id":"/ai-search/configuration/retrieval/query-rewriting/","name":"Query rewriting"}}]}
```