LlamaIndex Integration for RAG Systems
Insurance company operators were spending up to 12 minutes searching for answers among 15,000 pages of policies and instructions. We implemented LlamaIndex — time dropped to 1.5 minutes, accuracy rose to 91%, and outdated document errors fell from 8% to 0.4%. Over 5 years, we've completed 20+ RAG projects on LlamaIndex in finance, insurance, and retail. We guarantee accuracy of at least 90% on your data. Average savings at scale reach up to 2 million rubles per year per department, with project payback in 3–4 months.
What Problems Does LlamaIndex Solve?
Scattered data sources: PDF, Word, HTML, databases. LlamaIndex connects 150+ formats through native loaders — no need to write adapters. Slow search: ordinary vector search doesn't understand compound queries. SubQuestionQueryEngine splits the question into parts and processes them in parallel. Missing context: LlamaIndex adds metadata (date, author, document type) and filters by it, excluding outdated or irrelevant sources.
How LlamaIndex Accelerates Search in Unstructured Data
LlamaIndex uses multi-level indexing. Documents are split into chunks (typically 512 tokens with 50% overlap). For each chunk, an embedding is generated (OpenAI text-embedding-3-small, 1536 dimensions). Vectors are stored in Qdrant or another store. On query, the LLM chooses a strategy: direct search, SubQuestionQueryEngine, or RouterQueryEngine — depending on complexity. A built-in reranker improves relevance of top-10 results.
Basic RAG with LlamaIndex
from llama_index.core import VectorStoreIndex, SimpleDirectoryReader, Settings
from llama_index.core.node_parser import SentenceSplitter
from llama_index.llms.openai import OpenAI
from llama_index.embeddings.openai import OpenAIEmbedding
# Global settings
Settings.llm = OpenAI(model="gpt-4o", temperature=0)
Settings.embed_model = OpenAIEmbedding(model="text-embedding-3-small")
Settings.node_parser = SentenceSplitter(chunk_size=512, chunk_overlap=50)
# Load documents
documents = SimpleDirectoryReader("./data", recursive=True).load_data()
# Create index
index = VectorStoreIndex.from_documents(documents)
# Query
query_engine = index.as_query_engine(similarity_top_k=5)
response = query_engine.query("What is the warranty period for equipment?")
print(response)
# Access sources
for node in response.source_nodes:
print(f"Score: {node.score:.3f}, Source: {node.metadata.get('file_name')}")
Integration with Vector Stores
from llama_index.vector_stores.qdrant import QdrantVectorStore
from llama_index.core import StorageContext
import qdrant_client
# Connect to Qdrant
client = qdrant_client.QdrantClient(url="http://localhost:6333")
vector_store = QdrantVectorStore(client=client, collection_name="docs")
storage_context = StorageContext.from_defaults(vector_store=vector_store)
# Index into Qdrant
index = VectorStoreIndex.from_documents(
documents,
storage_context=storage_context,
show_progress=True,
)
# Reload existing index
index = VectorStoreIndex.from_vector_store(vector_store)
Why Choose LlamaIndex for RAG?
LlamaIndex beats LangChain in tasks requiring deep document handling. Built-in SubQuestionQueryEngine and RouterQueryEngine don't need custom prompts — they're ready for complex queries immediately. IngestionPipeline caches processing, speeding up re-indexing by 60%. Additionally, LlamaIndex supports Retrieval-Augmented Fine-Tuning (LlamaIndex documentation): domain-specific embedding fine-tuning improves recall by 15–20%. In our projects, average response time for complex queries with SubQuestionQueryEngine is 40% faster than bare LangChain.
SubQuestionQueryEngine: Decomposing Complex Questions
from llama_index.core.query_engine import SubQuestionQueryEngine
from llama_index.core.tools import QueryEngineTool
# Create tools from different sources
financial_tool = QueryEngineTool.from_defaults(
query_engine=financial_index.as_query_engine(),
name="financial_data",
description="Company financial metrics for the last three years",
)
contracts_tool = QueryEngineTool.from_defaults(
query_engine=contracts_index.as_query_engine(),
name="contracts",
description="Supplier and customer contracts",
)
# SubQuestion engine automatically splits query into sub-queries
engine = SubQuestionQueryEngine.from_defaults(
query_engine_tools=[financial_tool, contracts_tool],
use_async=True,
)
response = engine.query(
"Compare last quarter's revenue with budget and check for overdue payments on contracts"
)
# The agent creates 2 sub-queries and merges results
RouterQueryEngine: Routing Across Indexes
from llama_index.core.query_engine.router_query_engine import RouterQueryEngine
from llama_index.core.selectors import LLMSingleSelector
router_engine = RouterQueryEngine(
selector=LLMSingleSelector.from_defaults(),
query_engine_tools=[
QueryEngineTool.from_defaults(
query_engine=summary_index.as_query_engine(response_mode="tree_summarize"),
description="For summarization questions about the overall document",
),
QueryEngineTool.from_defaults(
query_engine=vector_index.as_query_engine(),
description="For searching specific facts and details",
),
],
)
IngestionPipeline: Advanced Preprocessing
from llama_index.core.ingestion import IngestionPipeline, IngestionCache
from llama_index.core.node_parser import SentenceSplitter, SemanticSplitterNodeParser
from llama_index.core.extractors import TitleExtractor, QuestionsAnsweredExtractor
from llama_index.core.vector_stores import SimpleVectorStore
pipeline = IngestionPipeline(
transformations=[
SentenceSplitter(chunk_size=512, chunk_overlap=64),
TitleExtractor(nodes=3), # Adds document title to each chunk's metadata
QuestionsAnsweredExtractor(questions=5), # Generates hypothetical questions for HyDE
OpenAIEmbedding(model="text-embedding-3-small"),
],
vector_store=vector_store,
cache=IngestionCache(), # Caches processed documents
)
nodes = await pipeline.arun(documents=documents, show_progress=True)
Practical Case: Enterprise Knowledge Base for an Insurance Company
Initial situation: 15,000 pages of documents (policies, insurance rules, regulatory instructions, internal regulations). Operators spent 8–12 minutes finding an answer to a customer query.
LlamaIndex architecture (our project):
- Sources: 4 document types in separate indexes in Qdrant
- RouterQueryEngine: routing by question type
- SubQuestionQueryEngine: for questions covering multiple types
- IngestionPipeline: automatic re-indexing on document updates
- Metadata filtering: by insurance type, document date, regional regulator
Results:
- Average operator response time: 10 min → 1.5 min
- Answer accuracy (expert evaluation): 91%
- Erroneous links to outdated policy versions: ~8% → 0.4%
- Document coverage: 73% (previously, operators were unaware of many documents)
LlamaIndex vs LangChain for RAG
| Aspect | LlamaIndex | LangChain |
|---|---|---|
| Specialization | RAG, document QA | General LLM applications |
| Data loaders | 150+ native | Community-driven |
| Advanced retrieval | SubQuestion, Router built-in | Requires customization |
| Agent capabilities | Available (LlamaAgents) | More mature (LangGraph) |
| Ecosystem | LlamaHub | LangChain Hub |
Typical Implementation Scenarios for LlamaIndex
| Scenario | Complexity | Timeline (days) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic RAG with single source | Low | 3-5 |
| Multi-source with RouterQueryEngine | Medium | 7-14 |
| IngestionPipeline with auto-update | Medium | 5-10 |
| Full-custom with embedding fine-tuning | High | 14-21 |
What's Included in the Work
- Data source audit — identify document types, volume, update frequency.
- Index design — choose chunker, embedding model, vector store.
- Retrieval pipeline setup — configure RouterQueryEngine, SubQuestionQueryEngine, reranking.
- Infrastructure integration — connect API, CI/CD, monitoring dashboard (latency p99, recall).
- Team training — documentation and workshop on using the system.
Estimated Timelines
- Basic RAG with LlamaIndex: from 3 to 5 days
- Multi-source RAG with RouterQueryEngine: from 1 to 2 weeks
- IngestionPipeline with automatic updates: from 1 week
- Domain-specific embedding fine-tuning: from 2 to 3 weeks
Exact timelines are calculated after a data audit. We'll assess your project in 1 day — contact us. Request a data audit and receive a commercial proposal. We guarantee payback in 3–4 months through reduced search time: savings up to 2 million rubles per year on operators.







