fix(rag): keep sources when the LLM omits the citation tag

[Ahmath-Gadji]

Why

Sources are not cited in a lot of messages: PR #807 changed the fallback so a missing [Sources: ...] tag hides all sources instead of keeping them. In practice the model often skips the tag on answers that are genuinely grounded in retrieved documents, so those sources were being dropped from the response.

Fix

• filter_sources_by_citations now keeps all retrieved sources when no tag is found, instead of returning none.
• Added extra.retrieved_sources: always the full, unfiltered retrieval set, alongside the (possibly citation-filtered) extra.sources.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Sources are now retained when responses do not include citation markers.
  • Structured-output responses no longer process citation markers incorrectly.
  • Source handling is now consistent across chat, streaming, conversational, and completion workflows.
  • Responses now distinguish between cited sources and all retrieved sources, preserving the complete retrieval context.

[coderabbitai]

Warning

Review limit reached

@Ahmath-Gadji, you've reached your PR review limit, so we couldn't start this review.

Next review available in: 24 minutes

Enable usage-based reviews in Billing to review now. Otherwise, wait until the next included review is available.
You're only billed for reviews past your plan's rate limits ($0.25/file).

How can I continue?

After more reviews become available, a review can be triggered using the @coderabbitai review command as a PR comment. Alternatively, push new commits to this PR.

To avoid repeated limits, reduce automatic review volume by pausing incremental auto-reviews earlier, using label-based review opt-in, excluding WIP or generated PR titles, or requesting reviews manually when the PR is ready. If your team needs uninterrupted high-volume reviews, an organization admin can enable usage-based reviews.

How do review limits work?

CodeRabbit enforces per-developer PR review limits for each organization. Most developers receive the normal plan review availability.

For paid Pro and Pro+ PR reviews, CodeRabbit uses adaptive limits for sustained high-volume activity. When a developer's recent PR review activity reaches the 95th percentile or higher among CodeRabbit users, additional reviews become available more gradually as earlier reviews age out of the rolling window.

Please refer docs for additional details.

Review details

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 664219ef-1d52-4109-93ca-4303e921c714

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 7d45146 and f4bd28a.

📒 Files selected for processing (5)

• CLAUDE.md
• openrag/core/utils/source_filtering.py
• openrag/services/orchestrators/query_service.py
• tests/unit/core/utils/test_source_filtering.py
• tests/unit/services/orchestrators/test_query_service.py

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

filter_sources_by_citations now retains all sources when citations are absent. Query flows detect structured outputs and skip citation processing. Responses include filtered sources and complete retrieved_sources. Tests cover chat, streaming, and completion paths.

Changes

Citation source handling

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Source filtering contract and behavior openrag/core/utils/source_filtering.py, tests/unit/core/utils/test_source_filtering.py, CLAUDE.md	The filtering APIs remove uncited-source options. Missing citations retain all sources. Stream metadata includes filtered sources and complete retrieved_sources. Documentation describes this behavior.
Structured output and query flows openrag/services/orchestrators/query_service.py	Chat, streaming chat, and text completion detect JSON-object and JSON-schema response formats. Structured outputs bypass citation processing. Responses include filtered and retrieved sources.
Query service validation tests/unit/services/orchestrators/test_query_service.py	Tests conditionally provide prepared sources for document or web inputs. No-citation responses retain retrieved sources.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• linagora/openrag#807: Modifies source citation filtering and query-service source attribution behavior.

Suggested labels: bug, fix

Suggested reviewers: enjoybacon7, hedhoud

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the main change: retaining sources when the LLM omits a citation tag.

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch fix/uncited-sources-fallback

---

Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

• X
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}