Community edition · v0.2.0-beta.5
HouyiDB is a single-node, memory-first vector database written in Rust: one binary serves pgwire, HTTP, and an OpenAI-compatible embedding gateway.
The first two figures are local engineering measurements from a single machine and a single run; machine, version, and parameters are on the performance page. They are not a lab benchmark and must not be combined into a total score.
Why / 01
Vector database work is a tug of war between writes, reads, and operations. HouyiDB keeps all three inside a single-node boundary and solves them with as few components as possible.
HotBuffer absorbs live writes while Async-Builder merges the graph in the background. plan/apply does planning under a read lock and commits under a short write lock, so queries can keep reading the graph while it is being built.
HTTP JSON for service integration, pgwire for psql and PostgreSQL clients, and an OpenAI-compatible gateway that streams embedding upstreams into the same collection.
Written in Rust and shipped as one binary. PAX row-column storage pairs with bitset pruning; WAL and graph snapshots cover cold-start recovery. Failover is a manual promote: no auto-election, no shard layer.
Quickstart / 02
Docker required; alternatively Rust 1.87+ or the macOS prebuilt package. The first image build takes about 5–15 minutes; once it is ready, the three steps below run in under a minute.
# 1 · Start: HTTP :7000 / pgwire :5432
git clone https://github.com/houyidb-community/houyidb.git
cd houyidb
docker compose up -d
curl -sS --noproxy '*' http://127.0.0.1:7000/v1/health
# {"status":"ok"}
# 2 · Upsert (the collection is created on first write; dimensions follow the batch)
curl -sS --noproxy '*' -X POST \
http://127.0.0.1:7000/v1/collections/goods/upsert \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{
"vectors": [
{"id":1,"values":[0.92,0.88,0.06,0.05,0.05,0.04,0.05,0.05],"label":"fruit","payload":{"name":"apple"}},
{"id":2,"values":[0.05,0.04,0.92,0.90,0.06,0.05,0.05,0.04],"label":"electronics","payload":{"name":"laptop"}},
{"id":3,"values":[0.04,0.05,0.05,0.06,0.90,0.92,0.05,0.04],"label":"book","payload":{"name":"rust-book"}}
]}'
# {"inserted":3}
# 3 · Search
curl -sS --noproxy '*' -X POST \
http://127.0.0.1:7000/v1/collections/goods/search \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"vector":[0.90,0.85,0.05,0.05,0.05,0.05,0.05,0.05],"k":3}'
# {"ids":[...],"scores":[...]}Capabilities / 03
Matched to the v0.2.0-beta.5 source tree. Beta means beta: the roadmap is not presented as shipped, and single-node features are not sold as a cluster.
| Domain | Capability | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Search & writes | ||
| Search | HNSW graph index + SIMD distance kernels (NEON; AVX behind a feature flag) | Beta |
| Search | Scalar filtering and hybrid search (label inverted index + bitset pruning) | Beta |
| Search | Multiple index backends: Clustered / PQ / HII-L0 | Beta |
| Writes | HotBuffer + Async-Builder dual-speed writes | Beta |
| Durability / interfaces / ecosystem | ||
| Durability | WAL + graph snapshots + cold-start recovery | Beta |
| Interfaces | HTTP JSON API and OpenAPI | Beta |
| Interfaces | pgwire (text / binary) and SQL hybrid search | Beta |
| Embedding | OpenAI-compatible /v1/embeddings gateway (bring your upstream) | Beta |
| Ecosystem | Six-language SDKs + LangChain / LlamaIndex adapters | Beta |
| Operations & deployment | ||
| Operations | Prometheus metrics; RBAC, audit, encryption at rest, tenant quotas | Beta |
| Deployment | Single binary / Docker Compose / Helm | Beta |
| Deployment | Leader / follower replication with manual promote | Beta |
| Roadmap | ||
| Roadmap | HII L1 (GPU CAGRA) and L2 (NVMe DiskANN) | Preview |
| Roadmap | MCP server | Planned |
Status describes the v0.2.0-beta.5 source tree. APIs and storage formats may still change during beta; the community edition does not shard and does not offer automatic leader election. See the server manual and deployment guide.
SDK / 04
Clients cover common backends and data stacks. String ids map to u64 through BLAKE2b-8, so the same string produces the same value in every SDK; deletes and replays work across languages.
stable_id: BLAKE2b-8 big-endian & 2^63−1, aligned with the server gateway; the same string id maps to the same u64 in any language.
Status / 05
v0.2.0-beta.5 is a developer preview: suitable for feature validation, performance trials, and integration proofs. APIs, storage formats, and performance knobs may still change; validate, size, and rehearse recovery before putting critical production data on it.
--wal-path explicitly, include it in backups, and rehearse cold-start recovery.GitHub / 06