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nemo-retriever

nemo-retriever

github.com/nvidiaDocuments3.8k2.4k installsUpdated today
Repository

About nemo-retriever

A skill for using the NeMo Retriever CLI to build or query local indexes and work with deployed Retriever services. It suits evidence-based retrieval workflows that may need source metadata preserved.

Key features

  1. 01Build and query local indexes
  2. 02Use deployed Retriever services
  3. 03Return results in evidence format
  4. 04Configure service authentication tokens

Use cases

  1. 01Index local documents
  2. 02Query an existing index for evidence
  3. 03Send requests to an authenticated Retriever service

Install

Copy the command and run it in a terminal.

$npx skills add https://github.com/nvidia/skills --skill nemo-retriever

After installing, type/nemo-retrieverin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.

Bundled files

References and scripts installed along with SKILL.md.

BENCHMARK.md
skill-card.md
skill.oms.sig
evals/
evals.json

Details

From the project README

NeMo Retriever

Use the retriever CLI. Prefer it over hand-built retrieval code.

Install only when missing

Create a project-local Python environment:

uv venv .venv --python 3.12
export PATH="$PWD/.venv/bin:$PATH"

Install the package variant required by the workflow:

# Remote NIM or service client
uv pip install --python .venv/bin/python "nemo-retriever==26.8.1"

# Local GPU ingestion
uv pip install --python .venv/bin/python "nemo-retriever[local]==26.8.1"

# Local service using Hugging Face models
uv pip install --python .venv/bin/python \
  "nemo-retriever[service,local]==26.8.1"

# Local audio or video ingestion
uv pip install --python .venv/bin/python \
  "nemo-retriever[local,multimedia]==26.8.1"

Do not clone NeMo Retriever or install from a Git URL. If retriever is already on PATH, use that installation.

Local workflow

Build a local index:

retriever ingest <file-or-directory> \
  --lancedb-uri lancedb --table-name nemo-retriever

Query it:

retriever query "<question>" \
  --lancedb-uri lancedb --table-name nemo-retriever \
  --top-k 5 --format evidence

Use retriever ingest batch only for an explicitly requested Ray batch run.

Service workflow

Use these forms for an already deployed Retriever service:

retriever ingest service <file-or-directory> \
  --service-url "$RETRIEVER_SERVICE_URL"

retriever query service "<question>" \
  --service-url "$RETRIEVER_SERVICE_URL" \
  --top-k 5 --format evidence

Set NEMO_RETRIEVER_API_TOKEN when the service requires Bearer authentication. Do not pass local LanceDB flags to the service commands.

Rules

  • Use the existing index or service when one is provided; do not rebuild it.
  • Use retriever ingest --help, retriever query --help, or the relevant batch / service help for options not shown here.
  • Answer only from retrieved evidence; preserve source and page metadata when the task requests citations.

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