One small embedding model couldn't tell a deploy script from a hosting note.

2 embedding models tested side by side

What we did

Mneva, our memory service for coding agents, recalls by meaning. The first version used MiniLM, with a keyword fallback.

What we found

Asked "how do we release", MiniLM couldn't separate a note about the deploy script from a note about hosting. bge-small with its retrieval prefix could. We switched and rebuilt every stored vector.

What it means

Test recall on the questions people actually ask. Known limit: very loose paraphrases still miss.

Source: mneva-engine commits ce00d9f and 384641f.