This page shows you how to retrieve context snippets.
To try this in your browser, use the Pinecone Assistant - Context colab notebook.

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Retrieve context snippets from an assistant

You can retrieve context snippets from an assistant, as in the following example: 
# To use the Python SDK, install the plugin:
# pip install --upgrade pinecone pinecone-plugin-assistant

from pinecone import Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
assistant = pc.assistant.Assistant(assistant_name="example-assistant")

response = assistant.context(query="Who is the CFO of Netflix?")

for snippet in response.snippets:
    print(snippet)
The example above returns a JSON object like the following:
JSON
{
    "snippets":
    [
        {
            "type":"text",
            "content":"EXHIBIT 31.3\nCERTIFICATION OF CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER\nPURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002\nI, Spencer Neumann, certify that: ..."
            "score":0.9960699,
            "reference":
            {
                "type":"pdf",
                "file":
                {
                    "status":"Available",
                    "id":"e6034e51-0bb9-4926-84c6-70597dbd07a7",
                    "name":"Netflix-10-K-01262024.pdf",
                    "size":1073470,
                    "metadata":null,
                    "updated_on":"2024-11-21T22:59:10.426001030Z",
                    "created_on":"2024-11-21T22:58:35.879120257Z", 
                    "percent_done":1.0,
                    "signed_url":"https://storage.googleapis.com...",
                    "error_message":null
                    },
                "pages":[78]
            }
        },
{
    "type":"text",
    "content":"EXHIBIT 32.1\n..."
...
signed_url provides temporary, read-only access to the relevant file. Anyone with the link can access the file, so treat it as sensitive data. Expires in one hour.

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Control the snippets retrieved

This is available in API versions 2025-04 and later.
You can limit token usage by tuning top_k * snippet_size:
  • snippet_size: Controls the max size of a snippet (default is 2048 tokens). Note that snippet size can vary and, in rare cases, may be bigger than the set snippet_size. Snippet size controls the amount of context given for each chunk of text.
  • top_k: Controls the max number of context snippets retrieved (default is 16). top_k controls the diversity of information received in the returned snippets.
While additional tokens will be used for other parameters, adjusting the top_k and snippet_size can help manage token consumption. 
# To use the Python SDK, install the plugin:
# pip install --upgrade pinecone pinecone-plugin-assistant

from pinecone import Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
assistant = pc.assistant.Assistant(assistant_name="example-assistant")

response = assistant.context(query="Who is the CFO of Netflix?", top_k=10, snippet_size=2500)

for snippet in response.snippets:
    print(snippet)