ailake 0.0.17

Unified tabular + vector storage in a single Iceberg-compatible file

ailake — AI-Lake Format Python SDK

Unified storage for tabular data, embeddings, and HNSW vector index in a single Parquet-compatible file. 100% Apache Iceberg Spec v2 compatible.

Install

pip install ailake

Requires Python ≥ 3.9. Dependencies: pyarrow >= 14.0, numpy >= 1.24.

Quickstart

Write + search — fluent API (recommended)

import ailake
import numpy as np

# Open or create a table
table = ailake.open_table(
    "./my_table",
    dim=1536,
    metric="cosine",          # cosine | euclidean | dot_product | normalized_cosine
    pre_normalize=True,       # normalize at write time; enables fast 1-dot(a,b) path
    hnsw_m=16,                # HNSW connections per node (default 16)
    hnsw_ef_construction=150,
)

texts = ["Document about AI", "Another document"]
embeddings = np.random.rand(2, 1536).astype(np.float32)

table.insert(texts, embeddings)   # accepts list or numpy array
snapshot_id = table.commit()

# Pointer-only search (default — backward-compatible)
df      = table.search(embeddings[0], top_k=10).to_pandas()   # row_id, distance, file
lf      = table.search(embeddings[0]).limit(5).to_polars()
results = table.search(embeddings[0]).to_list()   # list[dict]

# Full row data — all Parquet columns + _distance
df_full = table.search(embeddings[0], top_k=10, fetch_data=True).to_pandas()

Async API

import ailake, asyncio
import numpy as np

async def main():
    table = ailake.open_table("./my_table", dim=1536)
    await table.insert_async(texts, embeddings)
    await table.commit_async()

    # fluent async chain
    df = await table.search(query_vec).limit(10).to_pandas_async()

    # parallel searches via asyncio.gather
    r1, r2 = await asyncio.gather(
        table.search(q1).to_list_async(),
        table.search(q2).to_list_async(),
    )

asyncio.run(main())

Module-level search

import ailake
import numpy as np

query = np.random.rand(1536).astype(np.float32)

df     = ailake.search("./my_table", query, top_k=10).to_pandas()
lf     = ailake.search("./my_table", query).limit(5).to_polars()
items  = ailake.search("./my_table", query).to_list()

Assemble context for LLMs

import ailake

chunks = [
    {
        "document_id": "doc-1",
        "chunk_index": 0,
        "chunk_text": "AI-Lake stores vectors and tabular data together.",
        "document_title": "AI-Lake Overview",
        "section_path": "Introduction",
        "source_uri": "s3://my-lake/docs/overview.pdf",
        "distance": 0.12,
    },
]

context_xml = ailake.assemble_context(
    chunks=chunks,
    max_tokens=4096,       # token budget (4 chars ≈ 1 token)
    dedup_threshold=0.05,  # drop near-duplicate chunks
)
# Pass context_xml directly to Claude / GPT-4 as a user message

API reference

open_table(path, *, ...) → Table

Opens or creates an AI-Lake table at path.

Parameter	Default	Description
path	required	Table root (local, s3://, gs://, az://)
vector_column	"embedding"	Vector column name
dim	1536	Embedding dimension
metric	"cosine"	cosine, euclidean, dot_product, normalized_cosine
pre_normalize	False	Normalize to unit L2 at write; enables 1-dot(a,b) fast path (~12-20 % speedup)
hnsw_m	None (=16)	HNSW connections per node
hnsw_ef_construction	None (=150)	HNSW build pool size

Table

Method	Description
insert(texts, embeddings) → Table	Buffer a batch. embeddings: list[list[float]] or numpy array.
commit() → int	Persist as a new Iceberg snapshot; returns snapshot ID.
search(query, top_k=10, fetch_data=False) → SearchQuery	Lazy, chainable search. query: list[float] or numpy array. Set fetch_data=True to return full row data.
insert_async(...)	Async variant of insert.
commit_async() → int	Async variant of commit.

Table is a context manager: with ailake.open_table(...) as t: ...

In Jupyter, table renders a styled HTML card showing path and vector config.

SearchQuery

Lazy result set — no I/O until materialised.

Method	Description
limit(n) → SearchQuery	Cap to n nearest neighbours (chainable).
to_list() → list[dict]	Always pointer-only: [{"row_id": int, "distance": float, "file": str}, ...]
to_arrow() → pyarrow.Table	Full row data (all columns + _distance) when fetch_data=True; pointer-only pyarrow.Table with columns row_id, distance, file otherwise.
to_pandas() → pd.DataFrame	Full row DataFrame when fetch_data=True; pointer-only otherwise.
to_polars() → pl.DataFrame	Full row DataFrame when fetch_data=True; pointer-only otherwise.
to_list_async()	Async variant.
to_arrow_async()	Async variant.
to_pandas_async()	Async variant.
to_polars_async()	Async variant.

In Jupyter, results renders as an HTML table when executed, pending state otherwise. When fetch_data=True, the HTML table shows all Parquet columns.

Full-read mode

# Pointer-only (default — backward-compatible)
df = ailake.search("./my_table", query, top_k=10).to_pandas()
# columns: row_id, distance, file

# Full row data — all Parquet columns + _distance
df = ailake.search("./my_table", query, top_k=10, fetch_data=True).to_pandas()
# columns: text, embedding, ..., _distance

# Same via Table handle
df = table.search(query, top_k=10, fetch_data=True).to_pandas()

fetch_data=True reads each matching Parquet file once and uses arrow_select::take to extract only the matched rows — no full table scan.

search(path, query, top_k=10, fetch_data=False) → SearchQuery

Module-level search returning the same chainable SearchQuery.

TableWriter (legacy — still supported)

writer = ailake.TableWriter(path, vector_column="embedding", dim=1536, metric="cosine")
writer.write_batch(texts, embeddings)
snapshot_id = writer.commit()

assemble_context(chunks, max_tokens=4096, dedup_threshold=0.05) → str

Assembles chunk dicts into structured XML for LLM input. Deduplicates near-identical chunks within the token budget.

HNSW tuning guide

Goal	hnsw_m	hnsw_ef_construction
Low latency / high QPS	8	100
General purpose (default)	16	150
High recall (RAG)	24	200
Max recall (medical, legal)	32	400

Type checking

Ships py.typed (PEP 561) and ailake/_ailake.pyi stubs. mypy and pyright work out of the box with no configuration.

Iceberg compatibility

Tables are valid Apache Iceberg Spec v2. Spark, Trino, DuckDB, and PyIceberg read tabular columns normally; the HNSW index lives in an extension section that standard Parquet readers silently ignore.

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0