AI-native multimodal lakehouse for vector, full-text, and hybrid search on Lance
LanceDB documents a multimodal lakehouse for AI at docs.lancedb.com, built on the open-source Lance columnar format for storing vectors, metadata, raw bytes, and embeddings in unified tables. LanceDB OSS is an embedded library with Python, TypeScript, and Rust SDKs for local development; LanceDB Enterprise is a distributed managed lakehouse for search, curation, feature engineering, and training workflows per docs.lancedb.com. Features include vector/semantic search, BM25 full-text search, hybrid search with SQL filters, versioning, and cloud object-store integration (S3, GCS, Azure).
Use cases
- Agentic RAG over local document indexes with embedded LanceDB OSS
- Multimodal training datasets combining images, text, and embeddings
- Petabyte-scale feature stores with LanceDB Enterprise on object storage
- Prototyping in notebooks then scaling to production with the same Lance tables
- Hybrid retrieval pipelines pairing Lance tables with MotherDuck/DuckDB SQL
Key features
- Lance format for multimodal storage with fast random access and versioning
- Vector, full-text, and hybrid search with SQL filters in one table
- LanceDB OSS embedded library plus LanceDB Enterprise distributed deployments
- Python (`pip install lancedb`), TypeScript, Rust SDKs and REST API
- Integration with DuckDB via Lance extension for SQL retrieval workflows
Who Is It For?
- ML engineers building multimodal search or RAG pipelines
- Data platform teams consolidating AI data silos into one lakehouse table
- Developers evaluating embedded vector DBs versus managed-only offerings
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is LanceDB only an embedded vector library?
- No—docs describe LanceDB OSS for embedded use and LanceDB Enterprise for distributed managed lakehouse workloads.
- Where are SDK docs?
- See docs.lancedb.com quickstart plus Python/JS/Rust references at lancedb.github.io/lancedb and docs.rs/lancedb.
- How does Lance relate to LanceDB?
- Lance is the open-source lakehouse file/table format; LanceDB is the database product built on top—see docs.lancedb.com/lance.
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