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
GRPC_ROOT_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
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

Use docker compose up --build after making code changes to rebuild the image.

VortexDB is now running:

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

Building from Source

Install Dependencies

Ubuntu/Debian
macOS
Arch Linux

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 .

The Python SDK requires Python 3.9+ and communicates with VortexDB via gRPC.

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

Getting Started

Concepts

Installation

Installation

Prerequisites

Docker

From Source

Docker Installation (Recommended)

Configure Environment

Start VortexDB

Building from Source

Install Dependencies

Build and Run

Python SDK Installation

Verify Installation

Next Steps

Quickstart

​Installation

​Prerequisites

Docker

From Source

​Docker Installation (Recommended)

​Configure Environment

​Start VortexDB

​Building from Source

​Install Dependencies

​Build and Run

​Python SDK Installation

​Verify Installation

​Next Steps

Quickstart

Installation

Prerequisites

Docker Installation (Recommended)

Configure Environment

Start VortexDB

Building from Source

Install Dependencies

Build and Run

Python SDK Installation

Verify Installation

Next Steps