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Similarity Search Patterns

Seth HobsonCommunityCreated by Seth Hobson

  • Skill
  • Guidelines
  • Data and AI
  • MIT
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From the author

Implement efficient similarity search with vector databases. Use when building semantic search, implementing nearest neighbor queries, or optimizing retrieval performance.
— the description by Seth Hobson

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a structured approach to implementing similarity search, covering essential distance metrics, index types, and architectural patterns. It includes practical templates for integrating with vector database providers, offering guidance on how to select appropriate indexing strategies, manage search parameters, and implement hybrid search techniques to balance recall and latency.

What it does

  • Explains core distance metrics like Cosine, Euclidean, Dot Product, and Manhattan.
  • Compares index types including Flat, HNSW, and IVF+PQ based on search characteristics.
  • Provides code templates for vector database operations such as upsert, search, and deletion.
  • Demonstrates how to implement search with reranking using cross-encoders.
  • Outlines best practices for parameter tuning and filtering search spaces.

When to use it

  • When building semantic search or recommendation engines.
  • When implementing retrieval steps for RAG systems.
  • When choosing between different vector indexing strategies.
  • When integrating vector database operations into an application.

Advantages

  • Provides clear comparisons of indexing methods for different data scales.
  • Includes reusable code templates for common vector database workflows.
  • Offers actionable guidance on balancing search quality and system resources.
  • Covers both foundational concepts and practical implementation patterns.

Usage examples

“How do I choose the right index type for my vector database?”
The skill provides a comparison table showing that Flat indexes are best for small data, HNSW for medium-to-large, and IVF+PQ for very large datasets.
“Show me how to implement a search with reranking.”
The skill provides a code template demonstrating how to over-fetch results from a vector index and then refine them using a cross-encoder model.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/wshobson/similarity-search-patterns/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip similarity-search-patterns.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Seth Hobson

Similarity Search Patterns

Patterns for implementing efficient similarity search in production systems.

When to Use This Skill

  • Building semantic search systems

  • Implementing RAG retrieval

  • Creating recommendation engines

  • Optimizing search latency

  • Scaling to millions of vectors

  • Combining semantic and keyword search

Core Concepts

1. Distance Metrics

| Metric | Formula | Best For | | ------------------ | ------------------ | --------------------- | --- | -------------- | | Cosine | 1 - (A·B)/(‖A‖‖B‖) | Normalized embeddings | | Euclidean (L2) | √Σ(a-b)² | Raw embeddings | | Dot Product | A·B | Magnitude matters | | Manhattan (L1) | Σ | a-b | | Sparse vectors |

2. Index Types
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 Index Types                      │
├─────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────────┤
│    Flat     │     HNSW      │    IVF+PQ         │
│ (Exact)     │ (Graph-based) │ (Quantized)       │
├─────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ O(n) search │ O(log n)      │ O(√n)             │
│ 100% recall │ ~95-99%       │ ~90-95%           │
│ Small data  │ Medium-Large  │ Very Large        │
└─────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────────┘

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
  • Use appropriate index - HNSW for most cases

  • Tune parameters - ef_search, nprobe for recall/speed

  • Implement hybrid search - Combine with keyword search

  • Monitor recall - Measure search quality

  • Pre-filter when possible - Reduce search space

Don'ts
  • Don't skip evaluation - Measure before optimizing

  • Don't over-index - Start with flat, scale up

  • Don't ignore latency - P99 matters for UX

  • Don't forget costs - Vector storage adds up

Files

references/details.md

similarity-search-patterns — templates and worked examples

Templates

Template 1: Pinecone Implementation
from pinecone import Pinecone, ServerlessSpec
from typing import List, Dict, Optional
import hashlib

class PineconeVectorStore:
    def __init__(
        self,
        api_key: str,
        index_name: str,
        dimension: int = 1536,
        metric: str = "cosine"
    ):
        self.pc = Pinecone(api_key=api_key)

        # Create index if not exists
        if index_name not in self.pc.list_indexes().names():
            self.pc.create_index(
                name=index_name,
                dimension=dimension,
                metric=metric,
                spec=ServerlessSpec(cloud="aws", region="us-east-1")
            )

        self.index = self.pc.Index(index_name)

    def upsert(
        self,
        vectors: List[Dict],
        namespace: str = ""
    ) -> int:
        """
        Upsert vectors.
        vectors: [{"id": str, "values": List[float], "metadata": dict}]
        """
        # Batch upsert
        batch_size = 100
        total = 0

        for i in range(0, len(vectors), batch_size):
            batch = vectors[i:i + batch_size]
            self.index.upsert(vectors=batch, namespace=namespace)
            total += len(batch)

        return total

    def search(
        self,
        query_vector: List[float],
        top_k: int = 10,
        namespace: str = "",
        filter: Optional[Dict] = None,
        include_metadata: bool = True
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Search for similar vectors."""
        results = self.index.query(
            vector=query_vector,
            top_k=top_k,
            namespace=namespace,
            filter=filter,
            include_metadata=include_metadata
        )

        return [
            {
                "id": match.id,
                "score": match.score,
                "metadata": match.metadata
            }
            for match in results.matches
        ]

    def search_with_rerank(
        self,
        query: str,
        query_vector: List[float],
        top_k: int = 10,
        rerank_top_n: int = 50,
        namespace: str = ""
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Search and rerank results."""
        # Over-fetch for reranking
        initial_results = self.search(
            query_vector,
            top_k=rerank_top_n,
            namespace=namespace
        )

        # Rerank with cross-encoder or LLM
        reranked = self._rerank(query, initial_results)

        return reranked[:top_k]

    def _rerank(self, query: str, results: List[Dict]) -> List[Dict]:
        """Rerank results using cross-encoder."""
        from sentence_transformers import CrossEncoder

        model = CrossEncoder('cross-encoder/ms-marco-MiniLM-L-6-v2')

        pairs = [(query, r["metadata"]["text"]) for r in results]
        scores = model.predict(pairs)

        for result, score in zip(results, scores):
            result["rerank_score"] = float(score)

        return sorted(results, key=lambda x: x["rerank_score"], reverse=True)

    def delete(self, ids: List[str], namespace: str = ""):
        """Delete vectors by ID."""
        self.index.delete(ids=ids, namespace=namespace)

    def delete_by_filter(self, filter: Dict, namespace: str = ""):
        """Delete vectors matching filter."""
        self.index.delete(filter=filter, namespace=namespace)
Template 2: Qdrant Implementation
from qdrant_client import QdrantClient
from qdrant_client.http import models
from typing import List, Dict, Optional

class QdrantVectorStore:
    def __init__(
        self,
        url: str = "localhost",
        port: int = 6333,
        collection_name: str = "documents",
        vector_size: int = 1536
    ):
        self.client = QdrantClient(url=url, port=port)
        self.collection_name = collection_name

        # Create collection if not exists
        collections = self.client.get_collections().collections
        if collection_name not in [c.name for c in collections]:
            self.client.create_collection(
                collection_name=collection_name,
                vectors_config=models.VectorParams(
                    size=vector_size,
                    distance=models.Distance.COSINE
                ),
                # Optional: enable quantization for memory efficiency
                quantization_config=models.ScalarQuantization(
                    scalar=models.ScalarQuantizationConfig(
                        type=models.ScalarType.INT8,
                        quantile=0.99,
                        always_ram=True
                    )
                )
            )

    def upsert(self, points: List[Dict]) -> int:
        """
        Upsert points.
        points: [{"id": str/int, "vector": List[float], "payload": dict}]
        """
        qdrant_points = [
            models.PointStruct(
                id=p["id"],
                vector=p["vector"],
                payload=p.get("payload", {})
            )
            for p in points
        ]

        self.client.upsert(
            collection_name=self.collection_name,
            points=qdrant_points
        )
        return len(points)

    def search(
        self,
        query_vector: List[float],
        limit: int = 10,
        filter: Optional[models.Filter] = None,
        score_threshold: Optional[float] = None
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Search for similar vectors."""
        results = self.client.search(
            collection_name=self.collection_name,
            query_vector=query_vector,
            limit=limit,
            query_filter=filter,
            score_threshold=score_threshold
        )

        return [
            {
                "id": r.id,
                "score": r.score,
                "payload": r.payload
            }
            for r in results
        ]

    def search_with_filter(
        self,
        query_vector: List[float],
        must_conditions: List[Dict] = None,
        should_conditions: List[Dict] = None,
        must_not_conditions: List[Dict] = None,
        limit: int = 10
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Search with complex filters."""
        conditions = []

        if must_conditions:
            conditions.extend([
                models.FieldCondition(
                    key=c["key"],
                    match=models.MatchValue(value=c["value"])
                )
                for c in must_conditions
            ])

        filter = models.Filter(must=conditions) if conditions else None

        return self.search(query_vector, limit=limit, filter=filter)

    def search_with_sparse(
        self,
        dense_vector: List[float],
        sparse_vector: Dict[int, float],
        limit: int = 10,
        dense_weight: float = 0.7
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Hybrid search with dense and sparse vectors."""
        # Requires collection with named vectors
        results = self.client.search(
            collection_name=self.collection_name,
            query_vector=models.NamedVector(
                name="dense",
                vector=dense_vector
            ),
            limit=limit
        )
        return [{"id": r.id, "score": r.score, "payload": r.payload} for r in results]
Template 3: pgvector with PostgreSQL
import asyncpg
from typing import List, Dict, Optional
import numpy as np

class PgVectorStore:
    def __init__(self, connection_string: str):
        self.connection_string = connection_string

    async def init(self):
        """Initialize connection pool and extension."""
        self.pool = await asyncpg.create_pool(self.connection_string)

        async with self.pool.acquire() as conn:
            # Enable extension
            await conn.execute("CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector")

            # Create table
            await conn.execute("""
                CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS documents (
                    id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
                    content TEXT,
                    metadata JSONB,
                    embedding vector(1536)
                )
            """)

            # Create index (HNSW for better performance)
            await conn.execute("""
                CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS documents_embedding_idx
                ON documents
                USING hnsw (embedding vector_cosine_ops)
                WITH (m = 16, ef_construction = 64)
            """)

    async def upsert(self, documents: List[Dict]):
        """Upsert documents with embeddings."""
        async with self.pool.acquire() as conn:
            await conn.executemany(
                """
                INSERT INTO documents (id, content, metadata, embedding)
                VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4)
                ON CONFLICT (id) DO UPDATE SET
                    content = EXCLUDED.content,
                    metadata = EXCLUDED.metadata,
                    embedding = EXCLUDED.embedding
                """,
                [
                    (
                        doc["id"],
                        doc["content"],
                        doc.get("metadata", {}),
                        np.array(doc["embedding"]).tolist()
                    )
                    for doc in documents
                ]
            )

    async def search(
        self,
        query_embedding: List[float],
        limit: int = 10,
        filter_metadata: Optional[Dict] = None
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Search for similar documents."""
        query = """
            SELECT id, content, metadata,
                   1 - (embedding <=> $1::vector) as similarity
            FROM documents
        """

        params = [query_embedding]

        if filter_metadata:
            conditions = []
            for key, value in filter_metadata.items():
                params.append(value)
                conditions.append(f"metadata->>'{key}' = ${len(params)}")
            query += " WHERE " + " AND ".join(conditions)

        query += f" ORDER BY embedding <=> $1::vector LIMIT ${len(params) + 1}"
        params.append(limit)

        async with self.pool.acquire() as conn:
            rows = await conn.fetch(query, *params)

        return [
            {
                "id": row["id"],
                "content": row["content"],
                "metadata": row["metadata"],
                "score": row["similarity"]
            }
            for row in rows
        ]

    async def hybrid_search(
        self,
        query_embedding: List[float],
        query_text: str,
        limit: int = 10,
        vector_weight: float = 0.5
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Hybrid search combining vector and full-text."""
        async with self.pool.acquire() as conn:
            rows = await conn.fetch(
                """
                WITH vector_results AS (
                    SELECT id, content, metadata,
                           1 - (embedding <=> $1::vector) as vector_score
                    FROM documents
                    ORDER BY embedding <=> $1::vector
                    LIMIT $3 * 2
                ),
                text_results AS (
                    SELECT id, content, metadata,
                           ts_rank(to_tsvector('english', content),
                                   plainto_tsquery('english', $2)) as text_score
                    FROM documents
                    WHERE to_tsvector('english', content) @@ plainto_tsquery('english', $2)
                    LIMIT $3 * 2
                )
                SELECT
                    COALESCE(v.id, t.id) as id,
                    COALESCE(v.content, t.content) as content,
                    COALESCE(v.metadata, t.metadata) as metadata,
                    COALESCE(v.vector_score, 0) * $4 +
                    COALESCE(t.text_score, 0) * (1 - $4) as combined_score
                FROM vector_results v
                FULL OUTER JOIN text_results t ON v.id = t.id
                ORDER BY combined_score DESC
                LIMIT $3
                """,
                query_embedding, query_text, limit, vector_weight
            )

        return [dict(row) for row in rows]
Template 4: Weaviate Implementation
import weaviate
from weaviate.util import generate_uuid5
from typing import List, Dict, Optional

class WeaviateVectorStore:
    def __init__(
        self,
        url: str = "http://localhost:8080",
        class_name: str = "Document"
    ):
        self.client = weaviate.Client(url=url)
        self.class_name = class_name
        self._ensure_schema()

    def _ensure_schema(self):
        """Create schema if not exists."""
        schema = {
            "class": self.class_name,
            "vectorizer": "none",  # We provide vectors
            "properties": [
                {"name": "content", "dataType": ["text"]},
                {"name": "source", "dataType": ["string"]},
                {"name": "chunk_id", "dataType": ["int"]}
            ]
        }

        if not self.client.schema.exists(self.class_name):
            self.client.schema.create_class(schema)

    def upsert(self, documents: List[Dict]):
        """Batch upsert documents."""
        with self.client.batch as batch:
            batch.batch_size = 100

            for doc in documents:
                batch.add_data_object(
                    data_object={
                        "content": doc["content"],
                        "source": doc.get("source", ""),
                        "chunk_id": doc.get("chunk_id", 0)
                    },
                    class_name=self.class_name,
                    uuid=generate_uuid5(doc["id"]),
                    vector=doc["embedding"]
                )

    def search(
        self,
        query_vector: List[float],
        limit: int = 10,
        where_filter: Optional[Dict] = None
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Vector search."""
        query = (
            self.client.query
            .get(self.class_name, ["content", "source", "chunk_id"])
            .with_near_vector({"vector": query_vector})
            .with_limit(limit)
            .with_additional(["distance", "id"])
        )

        if where_filter:
            query = query.with_where(where_filter)

        results = query.do()

        return [
            {
                "id": item["_additional"]["id"],
                "content": item["content"],
                "source": item["source"],
                "score": 1 - item["_additional"]["distance"]
            }
            for item in results["data"]["Get"][self.class_name]
        ]

    def hybrid_search(
        self,
        query: str,
        query_vector: List[float],
        limit: int = 10,
        alpha: float = 0.5  # 0 = keyword, 1 = vector
    ) -> List[Dict]:
        """Hybrid search combining BM25 and vector."""
        results = (
            self.client.query
            .get(self.class_name, ["content", "source"])
            .with_hybrid(query=query, vector=query_vector, alpha=alpha)
            .with_limit(limit)
            .with_additional(["score"])
            .do()
        )

        return [
            {
                "content": item["content"],
                "source": item["source"],
                "score": item["_additional"]["score"]
            }
            for item in results["data"]["Get"][self.class_name]
        ]

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

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Attribution and licence

Created by
Seth Hobson
Publisher
Seth Hobson (Community)
Source
wshobson/agents · plugins/llm-application-dev/skills/similarity-search-patterns · commit 4bde316
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
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