🧠 Cognee DuckDB Vector Adapter

Features

• Zero-configuration embedded vector database - no external server required
• Full support for vector embeddings storage and retrieval
• High-performance vector similarity search using DuckDB's native array operations
• Persistent or in-memory database options
• Vector-first design with planned graph support in future releases
• Comprehensive error handling and logging

Installation

pip install cognee-community-hybrid-adapter-duckdb

Prerequisites

None! DuckDB is an embedded database that requires no external dependencies or server setup. Just install and use.

Examples

Checkout the examples/ folder!

Basic vector search example:

uv run examples/example.py

Document processing example with generated story:

uv run examples/simple_document_example/cognee_simple_document_demo.py

This example demonstrates processing a generated story text file (generated_story.txt) along with other documents like Alice in Wonderland.

You will need an OpenAI API key to run the example scripts.

Usage

import os
import asyncio
from cognee import config, prune, add, cognify, search, SearchType

# Import the register module to enable DuckDB support
from cognee_community_hybrid_adapter_duckdb import register


async def main():
    # Configure DuckDB as vector database
    config.set_vector_db_config(
        {
            "vector_db_provider": "duckdb",
            "vector_db_url": "my_database.db",  # File path or None for in-memory
        }
    )

    # Optional: Clean previous data
    await prune.prune_data()
    await prune.prune_system()

    # Add your content
    await add("""
    Natural language processing (NLP) is an interdisciplinary
    subfield of computer science and information retrieval.
    """)

    # Process with cognee
    await cognify()

    # Search (use vector-based search types)
    search_results = await search(query_type=SearchType.CHUNKS, query_text="Tell me about NLP")

    for result in search_results:
        print("Search result:", result)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Configuration

Configure DuckDB as your vector database in cognee:

• vector_db_provider: Set to "duckdb"
• vector_db_url: Database file path (e.g., "my_db.db"), None for in-memory, or MotherDuck URL for cloud

Database Options

# Persistent file-based database
config.set_vector_db_config({"vector_db_provider": "duckdb", "vector_db_url": "cognee_vectors.db"})

# In-memory database (fastest, but data is lost on restart)
config.set_vector_db_config(
    {
        "vector_db_provider": "duckdb",
        "vector_db_url": None,  # or ":memory:"
    }
)

# Absolute path to database file
config.set_vector_db_config(
    {"vector_db_provider": "duckdb", "vector_db_url": "/path/to/my/database.db"}
)

# MotherDuck cloud database
config.set_vector_db_config(
    {
        "vector_db_provider": "duckdb",
        "vector_db_url": "md:my_database",  # Replace with your MotherDuck database
    }
)

Requirements

• Python >= 3.12, <= 3.13
• duckdb >= 1.3.2
• cognee >= 0.2.3

Roadmap: Graph Support

This adapter is currently vector-focused with plans to add full graph database capabilities in future releases. The foundation is already in place with DuckDB's property graph extensions.

Current Status:

• ✅ Full vector similarity search
• ✅ Embedding storage and retrieval
• ✅ Collection management
• 🚧 Graph operations (coming soon)

Error Handling

The adapter includes comprehensive error handling:

• CollectionNotFoundError: Raised when attempting operations on non-existent collections
• InvalidValueError: Raised for invalid query parameters
• NotImplementedError: Currently raised for graph operations (graph support coming soon)
• Graceful handling of database connection issues and embedding errors

Performance

DuckDB provides excellent performance characteristics:

• Embedded: No network overhead - everything runs in-process
• Columnar: Optimized storage format for analytical workloads
• Vectorized: SIMD operations for fast vector similarity calculations
• ACID: Full transactional support with data consistency
• Memory efficient: Minimal memory footprint compared to traditional databases

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. File Permission Errors: Ensure write permissions to the directory containing your database file
2. Embedding Dimension Mismatch: Verify embedding dimensions match collection configuration
3. Collection Not Found: Always create collections before adding data points
4. Graph Operations: Graph support is planned for future releases - currently use vector search

Debug Logging

The adapter uses Cognee's logging system. Enable debug logging to see detailed operation logs:

import logging

logging.getLogger("DuckDBAdapter").setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

Database Option Comparison

Development

To contribute or modify the adapter:

1. Clone the repository and cd into the packages/hybrid/duckdb folder
2. Install dependencies: uv sync --all-extras
3. Run tests: uv run examples/example.py
4. Make your changes, test, and submit a PR

Extensions Used

This adapter automatically loads these DuckDB extensions:

• duckpgq: Property graph queries (foundation for upcoming graph support)
• vss: Vector similarity search with HNSW indexing support