Installation

VortexDB can be installed using Docker (recommended) or built from source. This guide covers both methods.

Prerequisites

Docker

Docker 20.10+ and Docker Compose v2

From Source

Rust 1.88+, protobuf-compiler, clang

Docker Installation (Recommended)

The fastest way to get started is using Docker:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/sdslabs/VortexDB.git
cd VortexDB

# Copy the environment template
cp .env.example .env

Configure Environment

Edit the .env file with your settings:

# Required settings
VORTEXDB_KEYS_FILE=./keys.json  # see keys.example.json for the format
DIMENSION=384  # Vector dimension (e.g., 384 for MiniLM embeddings)
DATA_PATH=/data

# Optional settings (with defaults)
HTTP_HOST=127.0.0.1
HTTP_PORT=3000
GRPC_HOST=127.0.0.1
GRPC_PORT=50051
STORAGE_TYPE=inmemory    # inmemory | rocksdb
INDEX_TYPE=flat          # flat | kdtree | hnsw
SIMILARITY=cosine        # cosine | euclidean | manhattan | hamming
LOGGING=true
DISABLE_HTTP=false

Start VortexDB

docker compose up

VortexDB is now running:

HTTP API: http://localhost:3000
gRPC API: localhost:50051

Building from Source

Install Dependencies

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y \
    protobuf-compiler \
    clang \
    libclang-dev \
    llvm-dev \
    build-essential

brew install protobuf llvm

sudo pacman -S protobuf clang llvm

Build and Run

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/sdslabs/VortexDB.git
cd VortexDB

# Build in release mode
cargo build --release

# Run the server
./target/release/server

Python SDK Installation

Install the Python client to interact with VortexDB:

pip install vortexdb

Or install from source:

cd client/python
pip install -e .

Verify Installation

Check that VortexDB is running correctly:

curl http://localhost:3000/health
# Response: OK

from vortexdb import VortexDB

db = VortexDB(
    grpc_url="localhost:50051",
    api_key="your-secure-password"
)
print("Connected successfully!")
db.close()

Next Steps

Quickstart

Insert your first vector in 60 seconds