> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://legacy-docs.chunkr.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Chunking

> Understanding our intelligent chunking

Chunking is the process of grouping segments into logical chunks. Our segmentation [models](/model) can produce a hierarchy of [segments](/segment), and we can use that to create chunks.

The exact strategy varies based on end-application and use-case, but generally the goal is to put together [segments](/segment) in a way that maintains the context of the information.

We offer an intelligent chunking algorithm but you can also turn it off to receive individual segments to handle chunking yourself.

## Configuration

You can configure intelligent chunking by setting the `target_chunk_length` parameter. This is the approximate number of words a chunk can contain.

## Intelligent Chunking

The chunking algorithm works as follows:

1. Remove headers and footers
2. Add segments to a chunk until we hit a **breaking condition**, or if the chunk length >= `target_chunk_length`.

### Breaking Conditions

We go down the segment hierarchy (from Title -> Section header -> Other). Once we hit a `segment_type` that is higher in the hierarchy than the current segment type, we break the chunk.

## Turning it off

Setting `target_chunk_length` to `0` will turn off intelligent chunking, and each chunk will contain a single segment. Click [here](/chunks) to learn more about the chunk model.