lance-format / lance-format/lance

Implement vector clustering based on BFS HNSW order

Open
#2,064 4 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

A-index enhancement
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
7.1k
Forks
852
Avg merge
3d 18h
Merged PRs (30d)
272

Description

We would like to increase the chance that similar vectors are nearby in data files. One idea is to order first by IVF partition, and then again using depth-first-search order of HNSW index.

We should do benchmarking to validate this meaningfully improves query performance.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing the existing IVF partitioning and HNSW index paths, then identify how data-file ordering is currently produced. Compare the proposed IVF-then-HNSW traversal ordering with the current layout and define benchmarks that measure query performance. Done means a validated clustering approach and benchmark results showing whether it improves queries.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
data, machine-learning, performance
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.