vector-index-tuning
Optimize vector index performance for latency, recall, and memory. Use when tuning HNSW parameters, selecting quantization strategies, or scaling vector search infrastructure.
Works with
--- name: vector-index-tuning description: Optimize vector index performance for latency, recall, and memory. Use when tuning HNSW parameters, selecting quantization strategies, or scaling vector search infrastructure. license: MIT --- # Vector Index Tuning Guide to optimizing vector indexes for production performance. ## When to Use This Skill - Tuning HNSW parameters - Implementing quantization - Optimizing memory usage - Reducing search latency - Balancing recall vs speed - Scaling to billions of vectors ## Core Concepts ### 1. Index Type Selection ``` Data Size Recommended Index ──────────────────────────────────────── < 10K vectors → Flat (exact search) 10K - 1M → HNSW 1M - 100M → HNSW + Quantization > 100M → IVF + PQ or DiskANN ``` ### 2. HNSW Parameters | Parameter | Default | Effect | | ------------------ | ------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | **M** | 16 | Connections per node, ↑ = better recall, more memory | | **efConstruction** | 100 | Build quality, ↑ = better index, slower build | | **efSearch** | 50 | Search quality, ↑ = better recall, slower search | ### 3. Quantization Types ``` Full Precision (FP32): 4 bytes × dimensions Half Precision (FP16): 2 bytes × dimensions INT8 Scalar: 1 byte × dimensions Product Quantization: ~32-64 bytes total Binary: dimensions/8 bytes ``` ## Templates and detailed worked examples Full template library and detailed worked examples live in `references/details.md`. Read that file when you need the concrete templates. ## Best Practices ### Do's - **Benchmark with real queries** - Synthetic may not represent production - **Monitor recall continuously** - Can degrade with data drift - **Start with defaults** - Tune only when needed - **Use quantization** - Significant memory savings - **Consider tiered storage** - Hot/cold data separation ### Don'ts - **Don't over-optimize early** - Profile first - **Don't ignore build time** - Index updates have cost - **Don't forget reindexing** - Plan for maintenance - **Don't skip warming** - Cold indexes are slow
More DevOps & Infrastructure skills
azure-ai
microsoft/azure-skills
Use for Azure AI: Search, Speech, OpenAI, Document Intelligence. Helps with search, vector/hybrid search, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, transcription, OCR. WHEN: AI Search, query search, vector search, hybrid search, semantic search, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, transcribe, OCR, convert text to speech.
appinsights-instrumentation
microsoft/azure-skills
Guidance for instrumenting webapps with Azure Application Insights. Provides telemetry patterns, SDK setup, and configuration references. WHEN: how to instrument app, App Insights SDK, telemetry patterns, what is App Insights, Application Insights guidance, instrumentation examples, APM best practices.
azure-storage
microsoft/azure-skills
Azure Storage Services including Blob Storage, File Shares, Queue Storage, Table Storage, and Data Lake. Answers questions about storage access tiers (hot, cool, cold, archive), when to use each tier, and tier comparison. Provides object storage, SMB file shares, async messaging, NoSQL key-value, and big data analytics. Includes lifecycle management. USE FOR: blob storage, file shares, queue storage, table storage, data lake, upload files, download blobs, storage accounts, access tiers, storage tiers, hot cool cold archive, storage tier comparison, when to use storage tiers, lifecycle management, Azure Storage concepts. DO NOT USE FOR: SQL databases, Cosmos DB (use azure-prepare), messaging with Event Hubs or Service Bus (use azure-messaging).
