Technical guides

Vector Search Guides

Focused engineering notes for non-brand search intent: vector search comparisons, ANN index tradeoffs, cosine similarity, RAG chunking, retrieval failures, and vector database interviews.

01 / vector search vs keyword search

Vector Search vs Keyword Search

Compare vector search and keyword search, including embeddings, BM25, exact tokens, semantic recall, hybrid search, and production RAG tradeoffs.

02 / semantic search vs vector search

Semantic Search vs Vector Search

Understand the difference between semantic search as a product behavior and vector search as one retrieval technique using embeddings and nearest-neighbor indexes.

03 / HNSW vs IVF

HNSW vs IVF

Compare HNSW graph search and IVF clustering for vector databases, including latency, recall, memory, filtering, updates, and production failure modes.

04 / FAISS vs Pinecone vs Qdrant

FAISS vs Pinecone vs Qdrant

Compare FAISS, Pinecone, and Qdrant by control plane, operations, filtering, deployment model, ANN indexes, and RAG retrieval fit.

05 / cosine similarity in vector search

Cosine Similarity Explained for Vector Search

Learn how cosine similarity compares embedding vectors, when it works, where it fails, and why high similarity does not guarantee correctness.

06 / RAG chunking strategies

RAG Chunking Strategies

Learn practical RAG chunking strategies for documents, code, support content, metadata, overlap, evaluation, and retrieval failure prevention.

07 / RAG retrieval problems

RAG Retrieval Failure Modes

Learn common RAG retrieval problems, including wrong chunks, missing context, stale metadata, weak filters, reranking failures, and evaluation gaps.

08 / vector database interview questions

Vector Database Interview Questions

Practice vector database interview questions covering embeddings, ANN indexes, HNSW, IVF, PQ, hybrid search, RAG retrieval, filtering, and memory.

09 / how much RAM for 1 million embeddings

How Much RAM for 1 Million Embeddings?

Calculate RAM for 1 million embeddings across common dimensions and precisions, including float32, float16, int8, index overhead, metadata, and production headroom.

10 / 1536 dimension embedding memory calculator

1536 Dimension Embedding Memory Calculator

Estimate memory for 1536-dimensional embeddings using vector count, precision, HNSW or IVF overhead, metadata, replicas, and production headroom.

11 / HNSW memory usage explained

HNSW Memory Usage Explained

Understand why HNSW uses extra memory for graph links, candidate queues, deleted markers, metadata filters, replicas, and rebuild headroom.