Retrieval selection

The intent_selector step can control three independent areas:

retriever: select which configured retrievers execute;
presentation_rules: select the presentation rules used for the answer;
retriever_payload: provide values for a dynamic vector-payload filter.

The areas are enabled through a multi-select field in the intent-selector configuration. Areas that are not enabled retain their normal pipeline default. Empty or missing legacy configuration keeps retriever and presentation-rule selection enabled and leaves payload filtering disabled.

Each retriever needs a stable retrieval_identifier. The identifier is used for routing and is separate from the human-readable step title.

The selector returns a JSON object containing the enabled areas. The complete contract is:

{
    "retrieval": {
        "mode": "selected",
        "targets": ["products"]
    },
    "presentationRules": {
        "mode": "selected",
        "rules": ["compact_answer"]
    },
    "retrieverPayload": {
        "values": [12, 15]
    },
    "metadata": {
        "primary_intent": "product_information"
    }
}

The retrieval and presentation-rule areas support all, selected, all_except and none. Only identifiers configured on retriever steps or presentation-rule records may be returned. The payload area uses the plural values key and contains the values selected by the AI.

Selector configuration

The selector step provides selection instructions and an optional metadata schema in JSON. When retriever_payload is enabled, TYPO3 additionally configures:

Payload field: Dot-notated indexed payload path, for example meta.additional.category_ids. This can address any indexed metadata field, including category_ids, categories or project-specific additional metadata.
Payload retrievers: A multi-select list of the retriever steps in the current assistant pipeline. Empty selection applies the dynamic filter to all retrievers allowed by the retrieval plan. A selected retriever that is not in this list runs without the dynamic filter.
Payload conjunction: and requires every returned value to match; or requires at least one returned value to match. This is technical configuration and is not decided by the AI.

The AI only returns payload values. It does not return the payload field path or the and/or operation:

{
    "retrieverPayload": {
        "values": [12, 15]
    }
}

If the AI returns no usable values, no dynamic payload filter is added. Static filters configured on a retriever remain active and are combined with a dynamic filter using AND.

The result is available to later context optimizers, answer generators and quality gates. Disabled output areas are not overwritten by the selector.