MESH: Scaling Up Retrieval with Heterogeneous Content Unification
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Optimizing large-scale retrieval hinges on the ability to efficiently surface candidates across diverse content tiers. However, to capture segments such as fresh and long-tail content, modern systems typically resort to a fragmented “zoo” of specialized retrieval models. This operational complexity is attributed to a fundamental challenge in heterogeneous retrieval systems — the Scaling Bias of Heterogeneity — where model capacity gains do not apply equally across diverse content tiers. To bridge this gap, we propose MESH as a unified retrieval scaling framework that mitigates this bias through a modularized architecture integrated with gated bias correction. By partitioning the feature space into independent domains, MESH enforces a structural inductive bias that reduces interference between sparse-item signals and high-frequency engagement features. This protected gradient path leads to improved scaling behavior for sparse content, empirically validated by a 14 × improvement in the power-law scaling exponent for fresh items. In online evaluations on Pinterest’s Related Pins platform — a billion-scale item-to-item recommendation system — these improvements translate into a +5.5% lift in fresh-item repins, alongside with 55% improvement in funnel efficiency and +0.46% improvement in user retention. Finally, our asynchronous serving strategy ensures production viability by delivering a 2.87 × improvement in system throughput. Our findings suggest MESH as a promising paradigm for consolidating fragmented retrieval infrastructures into more scalable and ecosystem-aware backbones.
Institution: Pinterest (United States)
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7168368673
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