fix: sports-hint ranking penalty fires on 'transport'/'passport' substrings (#1473)

* fix: sports-hint ranking penalty fires on 'transport'/'passport' substrings

* Apply word-boundary sports-hint fix to src/search/ranking.py as well

services/search/ranking.py

@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ _SPORTS_HINTS = {
     "sport", "sports", "soccer", "football", "hockey", "nba", "nfl", "mlb",
     "fifa", "world cup", "championship", "quarterfinal", "eliminates",
 }
+# Word-boundary match so "sport" does not fire inside "transport"/"passport"
+# and a domain like "transport.gov" is not mistaken for a sports site.
+_SPORTS_HINT_RE = re.compile(
+    r"\b(?:" + "|".join(re.escape(h) for h in _SPORTS_HINTS) + r")\b"
+)
 _LOW_VALUE_NEWS_DOMAINS = {
     "facebook.com", "www.facebook.com", "sports.yahoo.com", "yahoo.com",
     "www.yahoo.com", "msn.com", "www.msn.com",
@@ -39,7 +44,7 @@ def rank_search_results(query: str, results: List[dict]) -> List[dict]:
     query_terms = [t.lower() for t in re.findall(r"\b\w+\b", query)]
     query_lc = query.lower()
     is_news_query = any(term in _NEWS_HINTS for term in query_terms)
-    is_sports_query = any(hint in query_lc for hint in _SPORTS_HINTS)
+    is_sports_query = bool(_SPORTS_HINT_RE.search(query_lc))
 
     def title_score(title: str) -> float:
         if not title:
@@ -98,7 +103,7 @@ def rank_search_results(query: str, results: List[dict]) -> List[dict]:
             adjustment += 0.4
         if netloc in _LOW_VALUE_NEWS_DOMAINS:
             adjustment -= 0.8
-        if not is_sports_query and any(hint in text or hint in netloc for hint in _SPORTS_HINTS):
+        if not is_sports_query and (_SPORTS_HINT_RE.search(text) or _SPORTS_HINT_RE.search(netloc)):
             adjustment -= 1.5
         # A country/news query should not rank a page whose title/snippet barely
         # mentions the country above actual news pages for that country.

src/search/ranking.py

@@ -50,6 +50,11 @@ _SPORTS_HINTS = {
     "sport", "sports", "soccer", "football", "hockey", "nba", "nfl", "mlb",
     "fifa", "world cup", "championship", "quarterfinal", "eliminates",
 }
+# Word-boundary match so "sport" does not fire inside "transport"/"passport"
+# and a domain like "transport.gov" is not mistaken for a sports site.
+_SPORTS_HINT_RE = re.compile(
+    r"\b(?:" + "|".join(re.escape(h) for h in _SPORTS_HINTS) + r")\b"
+)
 _LOW_VALUE_NEWS_DOMAINS = {
     "facebook.com", "www.facebook.com", "sports.yahoo.com", "yahoo.com",
     "www.yahoo.com", "msn.com", "www.msn.com",
@@ -76,7 +81,7 @@ def rank_search_results(query: str, results: List[dict]) -> List[dict]:
     query_terms = [t.lower() for t in re.findall(r"\b\w+\b", query)]
     query_lc = query.lower()
     is_news_query = any(term in _NEWS_HINTS for term in query_terms)
-    is_sports_query = any(hint in query_lc for hint in _SPORTS_HINTS)
+    is_sports_query = bool(_SPORTS_HINT_RE.search(query_lc))
 
     def title_score(title: str) -> float:
         if not title:
@@ -117,7 +122,7 @@ def rank_search_results(query: str, results: List[dict]) -> List[dict]:
             adjustment += 0.4
         if netloc in _LOW_VALUE_NEWS_DOMAINS:
             adjustment -= 0.8
-        if not is_sports_query and any(hint in text or hint in netloc for hint in _SPORTS_HINTS):
+        if not is_sports_query and (_SPORTS_HINT_RE.search(text) or _SPORTS_HINT_RE.search(netloc)):
             adjustment -= 1.5
         # A country/news query should not rank a page whose title/snippet barely
         # mentions the country above actual news pages for that country.

tests/test_search_ranking_sports_substring.py

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+"""Regression: the sports-hint match must be word-boundary, not substring.
+
+`_SPORTS_HINTS` contains "sport", which is a substring of "transport",
+"passport", "sportswear", and of domains like "transport.gov". The old code
+used `hint in text` / `hint in netloc`, so for any non-sports news query a
+legitimate result mentioning "transport"/"passport" took the -1.5 sports
+penalty and was pushed down the ranking. The query classifier had the same
+flaw (a "passport" query was treated as a sports query). Both now use the
+word-boundary `_SPORTS_HINT_RE`.
+
+The same ranking module exists in two live copies: `services/search/ranking.py`
+(the /api/search HTTP path) and `src/search/ranking.py` (the agent's
+`web_search` tool path via `src/search/core.py`). Both are fixed and both are
+covered here.
+"""
+import pytest
+
+import services.search.ranking as services_ranking
+import src.search.ranking as src_ranking
+
+MODULES = [services_ranking, src_ranking]
+MODULE_IDS = ["services", "src"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("ranking", MODULES, ids=MODULE_IDS)
+def test_sports_regex_ignores_substring_false_positives(ranking):
+    for word in ("transport", "passport", "sportswear", "transportation"):
+        assert ranking._SPORTS_HINT_RE.search(word) is None, word
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("ranking", MODULES, ids=MODULE_IDS)
+def test_sports_regex_still_matches_real_terms(ranking):
+    for word in ("sport", "sports", "world cup", "the nba finals", "soccer match"):
+        assert ranking._SPORTS_HINT_RE.search(word) is not None, word
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("ranking", MODULES, ids=MODULE_IDS)
+def test_transport_news_result_outranks_one_with_standalone_sport(ranking):
+    # Non-sports news query (contains "latest"/"news"); subject term "transport".
+    query = "latest transport news"
+    results = [
+        # B first in input; identical except B carries a standalone "sport" word.
+        {"title": "City transport plan", "snippet": "the transport plan details and sport",
+         "url": "https://example.org/b", "age": "1 day"},
+        {"title": "City transport plan", "snippet": "the transport plan details",
+         "url": "https://example.org/a", "age": "1 day"},
+    ]
+    ranked = ranking.rank_search_results(query, results)
+    # With word-boundary matching only B (standalone "sport") is penalized, so the
+    # plain transport result rises to the top. Pre-fix both were penalized equally
+    # (via "transport") and input order was preserved, leaving B on top.
+    assert ranked[0]["url"] == "https://example.org/a"