# Nvidia Nemo Retriever Nemo Retriever > nemo-retriever - Skill: `tomevault-io/nvidia-nemo-retriever-nemo-retriever` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/nvidia-nemo-retriever-nemo-retriever` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/nvidia-nemo-retriever-nemo-retriever/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/nvidia-nemo-retriever-nemo-retriever --- # nemo-retriever The `retriever` CLI indexes a folder of PDFs into LanceDB (`retriever ingest`) and serves vector search over it (`retriever query`). For any task about searching/answering questions across a folder of PDFs, use this CLI — do not write a custom RAG. **Beyond PDFs and beyond semantic search.** `retriever ingest` also handles images, Office, HTML, TXT, audio, and video — see `references/setup.md` for the per-format recipe and `references/install.md` for the install extras (`[multimedia]`, libreoffice, ffmpeg). The query turn is a single command — see **§Query turn** below (inline, no reference read needed); `references/cli/query.md` holds only the fallback detail (exact-term, chart text-extract, compose-reply). Don't fall back to native Read/Grep/Python on non-PDF inputs. ## Install (if `retriever` is missing) If `command -v retriever` returns nothing, follow `references/install.md` to install the NeMo Retriever Library before proceeding. It prints `RETRIEVER_VENV=`; substitute that path for `` in every example in this skill (setup, query, troubleshooting, and the CLI references). ## Workflow — read the reference for the current phase, then execute | Turn type | Read this once | Then execute | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | **Setup turn** (first turn — `./lancedb/nemo-retriever.lance` doesn't exist) | `references/setup.md` | Build the index | | **Query turn** (every subsequent turn — user asks a question) | **§Query turn** below (command inline — no reference read needed) | Run it, then `Write` `./output.json` *(eval-harness contract only — for general use, just answer in chat)* | | Anything errored or returned empty | `references/troubleshooting.md` | Apply the named recovery; do not improvise | ## Query turn — run this, then write the answer `/bin/retriever query "" --format evidence --hybrid --top-k 10` → JSON `{ evidence: [ { text, source, locator, modality, fidelity, score, citation } ], coverage: {...} }`. That's the FIRST (usually only) call — don't `ls`/`find`/`sed`/Read to orient first; it already searched the whole corpus. Then: - **Lead with the direct answer** (the exact figure, or Yes/No) for the exact entity asked; address every entity / year / category the question names — even "not provided". - **Trust by fidelity** (`verbatim > ocr > transcribed > vlm_caption`): a number or directional claim resting ONLY on a `vlm_caption` (chart/image) is unconfirmed — quote it tagged "(chart-derived, unconfirmed)" unless a higher-fidelity item states the same fact. Never fabricate from adjacent text. - Re-`query` only if the answer isn't yet supported — once per genuinely distinct sub-question (per entity when comparing/listing), or with the exact term when `coverage.thin_spots` flags a miss. - Open `references/cli/query.md` ONLY for the fallback path (exact-term re-query, chart text-extract, compose-reply detail) — a normal answer needs none of it. For the full `retriever ingest` CLI spec, see `references/cli/ingest.md`. For `retriever query` flags, `/bin/retriever query --help` is authoritative (and faster) — you do not need it for routine turns. Before ingesting a mixed folder, inventory extensions (`find -name '*.*' | sed 's/.*\.//' | sort -u`) — `--input-type=auto` silently drops anything outside the supported set. See `references/troubleshooting.md` "Unsupported file types". ## Hard limits (apply to every turn) - **Setup turn**: build the index in one shell command (see `references/setup.md`). STOP after the index lands. - **Query turn**: at most **2 Bash calls** — 1 `retriever query`, +1 optional targeted text-extract per `references/cli/query.md`. Reply and then STOP. - **No narration between tool calls.** Tokens you emit between calls become input + cached input for every later turn — quadratic cost. Go straight from reading the summary to writing the JSON file. - **Banned**: `TodoWrite`, Glob, Grep, `Read` of whole PDFs, re-running setup, spawning subagents, speculative "confirmation" calls. Long query turns (5+ tool calls, 1M+ cache-read tokens) cost ~5× a disciplined turn and almost always still produce the wrong answer. **Answering partially beats timing out.** --- > Source: [NVIDIA/NeMo-Retriever](https://github.com/NVIDIA/NeMo-Retriever) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).