Rule trace shows which merchandising rules applied to a search, in what order, and how they affected the final results.

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Overview

Rule trace provides a complete audit trail of which rules were applied, helping you understand how merchandising controls affected search results.

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Trace Format

{
  "query": "running shoes",
  "rules_applied": [
    {
      "rule_id": "boost_high_margin",
      "type": "boost",
      "order": 1,
      "products_affected": 15,
      "impact": "+20% score boost"
    },
    {
      "rule_id": "pin_new_arrivals",
      "type": "pin",
      "order": 2,
      "products_affected": 1,
      "impact": "Pinned to position 1"
    },
    {
      "rule_id": "brand_diversity",
      "type": "guardrail",
      "order": 3,
      "products_affected": 8,
      "impact": "Limited to 2 per brand"
    }
  ]
}

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Best Practices

  1. Show order: Display rules in application order
  2. Show impact: Explain how each rule affected results
  3. Enable filtering: Allow filtering by rule type
  4. Export traces: Enable export for analysis