vegamdb 0.1.0

A high-performance vector database written in C++ with Python bindings

VegamDB

A high-performance vector database written in C++ with Python bindings. VegamDB provides fast nearest neighbor search with pluggable index types, zero-copy NumPy integration, and built-in persistence.

Features

• Multiple Index Types -- Flat (exact brute-force), IVF (inverted file with K-Means), and Annoy (random projection trees)
• C++ Core -- All indexing and search logic runs in optimized C++17 with -O3 and -march=native
• Zero-Copy NumPy -- Vectors pass directly from NumPy arrays to C++ via pointer, with no intermediate copies
• Persistence -- Save and load the entire database (vectors + index) to a single binary file
• Pluggable Architecture -- Switch index types at runtime without changing application code
• Type-Safe Python API -- Full type stubs (.pyi) for IDE autocomplete and static analysis

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/LuciAkirami/vegamdb.git
cd vegamdb
pip install .

Requirements

• Python >= 3.8
• CMake >= 3.15
• A C++17 compatible compiler (GCC 7+, Clang 5+, MSVC 2017+)
• NumPy

Development Install

For development, use an editable install so changes to Python files take effect immediately:

pip install scikit-build-core pybind11 numpy
pip install -e . --no-build-isolation

Quick Start

import numpy as np
from vegamdb import VegamDB

# Create a database
db = VegamDB()

# Add vectors
data = np.random.random((10000, 128)).astype(np.float32)
for vec in data:
    db.add_vector_numpy(vec)

# Search (defaults to exact flat search)
query = np.random.random(128).astype(np.float32)
results = db.search(query, k=5)

print(results.ids)        # [4823, 1092, 7744, 331, 5619]
print(results.distances)  # [4.12, 4.15, 4.18, 4.21, 4.23]

Index Types

VegamDB supports three index types, each offering a different trade-off between speed and accuracy.

Flat Index (Default)

Exact brute-force search. Computes the Euclidean distance between the query and every stored vector. Always returns the true nearest neighbors.

db.use_flat_index()
results = db.search(query, k=10)

Metric	Value
Accuracy	100%
Build Time	None
Best For	Small datasets (< 50K vectors), ground truth validation

IVF Index (Inverted File)

Partitions vectors into clusters using K-Means. At query time, only the closest clusters are searched, trading some accuracy for a large speedup.

db.use_ivf_index(n_clusters=100, max_iters=20, n_probe=1)
db.build_index()

# Search with custom probe count
from vegamdb import IVFSearchParams
params = IVFSearchParams()
params.n_probe = 10  # Search 10 of 100 clusters
results = db.search(query, k=10, params=params)

Parameter	Description	Default
n_clusters	Number of Voronoi cells (partitions)	--
max_iters	Maximum K-Means training iterations	50
n_probe	Clusters to search at query time	1

Annoy Index (Approximate Nearest Neighbors)

Builds a forest of random projection trees. Each tree recursively splits the vector space with random hyperplanes. At query time, multiple trees are traversed to collect candidate neighbors.

db.use_annoy_index(num_trees=10, k_leaf=50)
db.build_index()

results = db.search(query, k=10)

Parameter	Description	Default
num_trees	Number of random projection trees	--
k_leaf	Maximum points per leaf node	--

Choosing an Index

Use Case	Recommended Index	Why
Small dataset (< 50K)	Flat	Exact results, no training overhead
Medium dataset (50K - 1M)	IVF	Good speed/accuracy with tunable probe
Large dataset (1M+)	Annoy	Fast tree traversal, low memory
Ground truth / benchmarking	Flat	Guaranteed correct results

Persistence

Save and load the entire database state, including vectors and the trained index:

# Save
db.save("my_database.bin")

# Load into a fresh instance
db2 = VegamDB()
db2.load("my_database.bin")

assert db2.size() == db.size()

The index type and its trained state are serialized automatically. After loading, the index is ready to search without rebuilding.

API Reference

VegamDB

Method	Description
VegamDB()	Create a new empty database instance
add_vector(vec)	Add a vector from a Python list of floats
add_vector_numpy(arr)	Add a vector from a 1D NumPy float32 array (zero-copy)
size()	Return the number of stored vectors
dimension()	Return the dimensionality of stored vectors (0 if empty)
use_flat_index()	Set index to brute-force flat search
use_ivf_index(...)	Set index to IVF with specified cluster configuration
use_annoy_index(...)	Set index to Annoy with specified tree configuration
build_index()	Explicitly build/train the current index
search(query, k, params=None)	Search for k nearest neighbors, returns SearchResults
save(filename)	Save database and index to a binary file
load(filename)	Load database and index from a binary file

SearchResults

Attribute	Type	Description
ids	list[int]	Indices of nearest neighbors (insertion order)
distances	list[float]	Euclidean distances to the query vector

Search Parameters

IVFSearchParams -- Override the default probe count for IVF search:

• n_probe (int): Number of clusters to search. Higher values improve recall at the cost of latency.

Architecture

                        VegamDB (Orchestrator)
                       /                      \
               VectorStore                  IndexBase
            (raw float vectors)           (search strategy)
                                         /      |       \
                                     Flat      IVF     Annoy
                                   (exact)  (K-Means)  (trees)

• VegamDB -- Main entry point. Manages the vector store and delegates search to the active index.
• VectorStore -- Stores raw vectors in a vector<vector<float>>. Handles serialization.
• IndexBase -- Abstract interface that all index types implement (build, search, save, load).
• FlatIndex -- Iterates over all vectors, computing Euclidean distance. O(n) per query.
• IVFIndex -- Trains K-Means centroids, assigns vectors to clusters, searches only nearby clusters.
• AnnoyIndex -- Builds a forest of binary trees using random hyperplane splits for fast traversal.

Project Structure

vegamdb/
├── include/                  # C++ headers
│   ├── VegamDB.hpp
│   ├── indexes/              # IndexBase, FlatIndex, IVFIndex, AnnoyIndex, KMeans
│   ├── storage/              # VectorStore
│   └── utils/                # Math utilities (Euclidean distance, dot product)
├── src/                      # C++ implementation
│   ├── VegamDB.cpp
│   ├── bindings.cpp          # pybind11 Python bindings
│   ├── indexes/
│   ├── storage/
│   └── utils/
├── vegamdb/                  # Python package
│   ├── __init__.py           # Public API re-exports
│   └── _vegamdb.pyi          # Type stubs for IDE support
├── benchmarks/               # Performance benchmarks
├── CMakeLists.txt            # C++ build configuration
└── pyproject.toml            # Python packaging (scikit-build-core)

Benchmarks

Run the included benchmarks to evaluate performance on your hardware:

# Stress test (Flat index, varying dataset sizes)
python benchmarks/stress_test.py

# IVF benchmark (accuracy vs speed trade-off across probe counts)
python benchmarks/ivf_benchmarks.py

# Annoy benchmark (accuracy vs speed trade-off across tree counts)
python benchmarks/annoy_benchmark.py

License

MIT