AI Glossary

Vector database

Also called vector store

What does “Vector database” mean?

Vector database: Storage built to hold embeddings and quickly find the ones most similar to a query, even across millions of items. It usually stores the original text and metadata alongside each vector so results can be filtered and shown. Some general-purpose databases now offer vector search as a feature.

Vector database visual guide: Storage built to hold embeddings and quickly find the ones most similar to a query, even across millions of items. It usually stores the original text and metadata alongside each vector so results can be filtered and shown. Some general-purpose databases now offer vector search as a feature.
Visual guide Open full size (new tab)

What is an example of “Vector database”?

A RAG chatbot stores embeddings of every help article in a vector database and looks up the closest matches for each question.