Handling unanswered retrieval questions

Treat missing evidence as an ordinary product outcome. SearchCandy exposes not_covered so your application can decide what to do next.

Use a clear branch

r = sc.query(question)
if r.not_covered:
    message = "No supporting passage returned. Add a relevant document or ask for help."
else:
    message = "\n".join(q.text for q in r.quotes)

Do not convert a missing-evidence result into an invented answer. A useful interface offers a next action: refine the question, add relevant material, or ask a person.

A coverage signal is not a proof of absence

A retrieval system can miss relevant material. Evaluate both correct refusals and cases where evidence exists but is not returned. The documented result of 55 out of 55 absent-entity questions refused describes that evaluation, not every possible question.

Keep service errors separate

An indexing pause, invalid credential, or unavailable service is not the same as missing evidence. Handle the documented error response separately and show an appropriate retry or access message. Do not label an API failure as “not in your documents.”

API error reference

Evaluate answer quality and coverage together

High quality among answered questions can coexist with missed questions. Report the number of questions tested, answered, correctly refused, incorrectly refused, and failed by the service. Keep ungraded and excluded questions visible in your accounting.