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Vector Database Setup

The vector store is the foundation. Get it right.

Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant, Milvus, or pgvector — we pick the right engine for your scale and stack, then tune the indexing, filtering, and hybrid search so retrieval is fast and accurate at production volume.

Pinecone · Weaviate · Qdrant · Milvus · pgvector · Turbopuffer · hybrid search

Most retrieval problems are vector-store problems.

When a RAG or search system returns the wrong results, the cause is usually upstream of the LLM — in how vectors are indexed, filtered, and queried.

The wrong distance metric, an un-tuned HNSW index, missing metadata filters, or pure-dense search on a corpus full of exact-match terms (IDs, codes, names) all quietly tank precision. We treat the vector database as an engineering problem with measurable answers, not a checkbox you tick once.

Choosing the right engine.

If you need…We usually recommend
You're already on Postgrespgvector — no new infra, transactional consistency
Zero ops, managed scalePinecone — serverless, predictable
Self-hosted hybrid searchQdrant or Weaviate
Billion-vector scaleMilvus or Turbopuffer
Cheap cold storage of vectorsTurbopuffer / object-store-backed

What we set up.

01

Engine selection

Benchmarked on your data volume, query patterns, latency target, and budget — with a TCO comparison.

02

Index tuning

HNSW/IVF parameters, distance metric, and quantization tuned for your recall/latency tradeoff.

03

Metadata + filtering

Schema for pre/post-filtering so queries respect tenancy, permissions, and freshness.

04

Hybrid search

Dense + sparse (BM25) retrieval fused with reciprocal rank fusion for real-world precision.

05

Ingestion pipeline

Embedding, upsert, and re-index workflows — including backfills and incremental updates.

06

Monitoring

Latency, recall, and cost dashboards so you catch drift before users do.

Ways to engage.

Setup & Benchmark
1–2 weeks
from $14,000
  • Engine recommendation + TCO
  • Index + metadata design
  • Ingestion pipeline starter
Start Setup
Production Retrieval
4–7 weeks
from $40,000
  • Hybrid search + reranking
  • Tuned indexing at your scale
  • Monitoring + eval harness
Start a Build
Optimization Audit
1 week
from $9,000
  • Review of an existing setup
  • Recall + latency + cost findings
  • Prioritized fix plan
Book an Audit
Show, don't tell

Hybrid retrieval, right in your database.

If you're on Postgres, you often don't need new infrastructure — pgvector plus full-text gets you hybrid search.

hybrid_search.sqlsql
-- Hybrid search in Postgres: pgvector + full-textSELECT id, title,       0.6 * (1 - (embedding <=> $1)) +        -- dense similarity       0.4 * ts_rank(tsv, query)        AS score  -- lexical matchFROM documents, plainto_tsquery($2) queryWHERE tsv @@ query OR (embedding <=> $1) < 0.35ORDER BY score DESCLIMIT 10;
Top matches
1 Onboarding guide 0.91
2 Billing & invoices 0.88
3 SSO setup 0.81

We tune the weights, index parameters, and distance metric against your data — and recommend a dedicated engine only when you'll actually feel the difference.

Tuned for your scale

The defaults are almost never right.

Out-of-the-box HNSW parameters, the wrong distance metric, and missing metadata filters quietly cap your recall.

We benchmark recall, latency, and cost on your corpus and query patterns, then tune the index until retrieval is both fast and accurate at production volume.

Plan your vector DB

Common questions.

Do we even need a dedicated vector DB?
Not always. If you're small and on Postgres, pgvector is often enough. We'll tell you when a dedicated engine is worth the operational cost.
Pure-vector or hybrid search?
Hybrid wins on most real corpora because dense search misses exact-term queries. We default to hybrid and prove it on your data.
Can you fix our existing slow/inaccurate setup?
Yes — the optimization audit exists for exactly this. Most issues are index parameters, missing filters, or no reranking.
How do you handle multi-tenant data?
Metadata filtering and, where isolation matters, namespace/collection separation enforced at query time.

Bring us your retrieval problem.

Tell us your corpus size, query patterns, and latency target. We'll recommend an engine and an indexing strategy — and tell you if you don't need a vector DB at all.