Fine-Tuning vs RAG vs Prompting: The Decision Guide

Knowledge changes; retrieval stays current without retraining. If the failure mode is 'the model doesn't know our stuff,' that's RAG, full stop.

Ask what's missing: behavior → prompt; facts → RAG; form → fine-tune. Combine when justified by measurements, not ambition.

Skipping the discipline this article describes until an incident, audit, or stalled project forces it — every practice above is cheaper adopted early than retrofitted under pressure.