I usually don’t like to reinvent the wheel, but sometimes the available tools don’t quite fit. Recently, while working with vector data in SQLite, I noticed that the current ecosystem doesn’t fully align with what most SQLite users actually need.
The typical requirements are not “billion-scale” datasets or cloud-only setups. Most developers want something that is:
Memory-efficient (able to run comfortably on laptops, phones, and small servers).
Fast enough to handle a few million multidimensional vectors.
Simple to use within regular SQLite workflows.
When you look at the current offerings, there’s a gap.
Existing Options
sqlite-vss (Alex Garcia)
Built on Meta’s Faiss C++ library, but plagued by integration issues that ultimately led Alex to abandon it. He explains why here.
sqlite-vec (Alex Garcia)
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