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Index Types Overview

Schema recognizes six value types, each with associated index types. Without providing a Schema, collections use these built-in defaults:

Simple Index Configs

These index types have no configuration parameters.

FtsIndexConfig

Use Case: Full-text search and regular expression search on documents (e.g., where(K.DOCUMENT.contains("search term"))). Limitations: Cannot be deleted. Applies to K.DOCUMENT only.

StringInvertedIndexConfig

Use Case: Exact and prefix string matching on metadata fields (e.g., where(K("category") == "science")).

IntInvertedIndexConfig

Use Case: Range and equality queries on integer metadata (e.g., where(K("year") >= 2020)).

FloatInvertedIndexConfig

Use Case: Range and equality queries on float metadata (e.g., where(K("price") < 99.99)).

BoolInvertedIndexConfig

Use Case: Filtering on boolean metadata (e.g., where(K("published") == True)).

VectorIndexConfig

Use Case: Semantic similarity search on dense embeddings for finding conceptually similar content. Parameters: Limitations:
  • Cannot be deleted
  • Applies to K.EMBEDDING only

SparseVectorIndexConfig

Use Case: Keyword-based search for exact term matching, domain-specific terminology, and technical terms. Ideal for hybrid search when combined with dense embeddings. Parameters: Limitations:
  • Must specify a metadata key name (per-key configuration required)
  • Sparse vector indices must be declared at collection creation and cannot be added later
  • Cannot be deleted once created

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