Improve user comprehension by scaling RRF scores to match the intuitive
0-1 range used by other search algorithms.
## Problem
RRF (Reciprocal Rank Fusion) scores had a drastically different scale
than semantic/keyword/fuzzy scores:
- Semantic similarity: 0.0 to 1.0 (typical: 0.5-0.9)
- RRF scores: 0.0 to ~0.016 (typical: 0.005-0.015)
This caused user confusion - a score of 0.0078 looked terrible but was
actually excellent (near theoretical maximum).
## Solution
Normalize RRF scores using the formula:
`normalized_score = rrf_score * (rrf_k + 1) / total_weight`
Where:
- rrf_k = 60 (RRF constant)
- total_weight = sum of algorithm weights (default: 1.0)
**Example transformation:**
- Before: 0.0078 (confusing)
- After: 0.477 (intuitive)
## Changes
**nextcloud_mcp_server/search/hybrid.py:**
- Store total_weight as instance variable (line 63)
- Calculate normalization factor in _reciprocal_rank_fusion() (line 209)
- Apply normalization to all RRF scores (line 217)
- Preserve raw RRF score in metadata for debugging (line 222)
## Impact
**User Experience:**
- Hybrid search scores now comparable with semantic/keyword/fuzzy
- Score of 0.5 indicates good match across all algorithms
- Consistent scale improves score threshold usability
**Backward Compatibility:**
- Raw RRF scores preserved in metadata["rrf_score_raw"]
- Result ordering unchanged (normalization is linear transformation)
- Breaking change: Existing score thresholds need adjustment
**Performance:**
- Negligible overhead (single multiplication per result)
## Testing
Verified with nc_semantic_search and nc_semantic_search_answer:
- Hybrid scores now 0.47-0.7 range (was 0.003-0.011)
- Semantic scores unchanged (0.75)
- Result ordering preserved
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Chris Coutinho
eaeb8eae28