Chunking just means splitting a whole document into pieces you could read over a cup of tea, instead of swallowing the whole thing in one gulp. Nothing to be scared of.
Let's think about it this way for a second
The model's plate is small — don't try to feed it a whole book in one sitting. A chunk is roughly one paragraph, one section, or half a page. Too big, and search results get noisy. Too small, and you cut the meaning apart. First rule: split by section heading, not by some magic character count. If a chunk is about as long as a cup of tea's worth of reading, that's plenty.
Let's connect it to everyday life
If handbook.md has three sections — "Phones," "Uniform," and "Tardiness" — make three chunks. Ask about phones, and you don't need the uniform section at all. Splitting at exactly 50 words and slicing a sentence in half mid-way is like chopping straight through the middle of a dish with a knife. Need overlap? Just repeat the section heading at the top of each chunk — that little trick works better than any magic number.
Let's try it hands-on together
handbook.md
chunk A ## ဖုန်း
chunk B ## ယူနီဖောင်း
chunk C ## နောက်ကျ
Question about phones → only chunk A goes to the modelYou'll be able to split a file into 3 meaningful chunks.5-Minute Try-It
Write a sample 10-line paragraph. Split it into chunks under 3 headings. Explain, line by line, why you split it that way.
One Quick Warning
Before reaching for a chunking library, try splitting it on paper first. If it doesn't make sense to your eyes, it won't make sense in code either.