Skip to content
ai

Vector database

Vector Database

Definition

A vector database stores high-dimensional embedding vectors and supports efficient approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search to find the most semantically similar vectors to a query. Purpose-built vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant, Chroma) and vector extensions for traditional databases (pgvector) underpin RAG systems.

ANN algorithms like HNSW and IVF-PQ enable sub-millisecond search over millions of vectors.

Related Terms

Embedding
Vector Embedding
Semantic search
Semantic Search
Cosine similarity
Cosine Similarity
RAG
Retrieval-Augmented Generation
← Back to Glossary

Ship secure code faster

Crash Override integrates security into the developer workflow. No context switching, no waiting on reviews.

Talk to a Human See the Product