---
title: "Guides"
slug: "dev-vector-search-guides"
updated: 2026-10-28T02:15:22Z
published: 2026-10-28T02:15:22Z
canonical: "docs.vastdata.com/dev-vector-search-guides"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vastdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Guides

Step-by-step instructions for building with Vector Search. Start with Design a vector table and Create a vector index, then Ingest vectors and Query design; the other guides cover filters, quantization, measuring recall, migration and RAG retrieval.

- **[Create a vector index](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-create-an-index)**: Create a vector-indexed table with SQL or the Python SDK, choose its metric and quantization, and avoid rejected definitions.
- **[Ingest vectors](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-ingest)**: Load embeddings with SQL, the Python SDK, ADBC bulk ingest or Parquet import, and change a row's embedding afterwards.
- **[Quantization](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-quantization)**: The two quantization settings of a vector-indexed table, the combinations VAST Cluster 5.5 accepts, and how to trade accuracy for speed.
- **[Query design](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-query-design)**: Write searches in the shape the index recognises, match distance functions to metrics, and rewrite queries that don't use the index.
- **[Filters](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-filters)**: Combine nearest-neighbour search with WHERE conditions, plan filter columns before creating the table, and filter results by user permissions.
- **[Design a vector table](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-table-design)**: Plan the index, metric, quantization and columns of a vector table before CREATE TABLE, since most choices can't be undone.
- **[Measure recall and latency](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-developer-observability)**: Time vector queries from the application, measure recall, tune the probe settings against it, and give support a query ID.
- **[Build RAG retrieval with permissions](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-rag-retrieval)**: Chunk, embed, load and retrieve documents for RAG, returning only chunks from documents the requesting user may read.
- **[Move vectors into an indexed table](/develop/docs/dev-vector-search-guides-migrate)**: Copy vectors into an indexed table from an unindexed table, pgvector, Pinecone-style hosted services, or Spark and Trino pipelines.