SochDB is a single database that replaces your vector DB + relational DB + prompt packer stack. Store structured data, embeddings, and conversation history together—then ask SochDB to assemble token-optimized context for your LLM.
| Feature | SochDB | SQLite + vec | Postgres + pgvector | Chroma | LanceDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Vector search | ✅ HNSW | ✅ (HNSW / IVFFlat) | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Full SQL (user-facing) | ✅ SQL-92 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Hybrid search (vector + keyword) | ✅ | ✅ | |||
| Context builder | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Token budgeting | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Graph overlay | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| ACID transactions | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | |
| Columnar storage | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Feature | SochDB | Mem0 | Letta | Graphiti |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | DB + retrieval + context | Memory layer | Agent framework + memory | Temporal knowledge-graph memory |
| Long-term memory primitives | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Token-aware context budgeting | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Graph-based memory | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Built-in vector store | ✅ | ❌ (BYO) | ❌ (BYO) | ❌ (BYO) |
| Built-in agent runtime | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Drop-in “memory add-on” to existing apps | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Quick links: 📚 Documentation • Quick Start • Architecture • TOON Format • Benchmarks • RFD
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ YOUR APPLICATION │
└───────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┬───────────────────┘
│ │ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ Postgres │ │ Pinecone │ │ Redis │ │ Custom Code │
│ (metadata) │ │ (vectors) │ │ (sessions) │ │ (context assembly) │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ • User data │ │ • Embeddings │ │ • Chat state │ │ • Token counting │
│ • Settings │ │ • Similarity │ │ • Cache │ │ • Truncation logic │
│ • History │ │ search │ │ • Temp data │ │ • Prompt packing │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ • Multi-source fusion │
└───────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────────────────┘
│ │ │ │
└─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘
│
┌───────────────┴───────────────┐
│ 😰 You manage all of this: │
│ • 4 different query languages │
│ • 4 sets of credentials │
│ • 4 failure modes │
│ • No cross-system transactions│
│ • Weeks of glue code │
└───────────────────────────────┘
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ YOUR APPLICATION │
└─────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SochDB │
│ │
│ SQL + Vectors + Context Builder │
│ │
│ • One query language │
│ • One connection │
│ • ACID transactions │
│ • Token budgeting built-in │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌─────────────────┴─────────────────┐
│ 😎 What you actually ship: │
│ • Single ~700KB embedded DB │
│ • Zero external dependencies │
│ • Works offline │
│ • Deploys anywhere │
└───────────────────────────────────┘
| Challenge | Traditional Stack | SochDB |
|---|---|---|
| Token waste | JSON/SQL bloat in prompts | TOON format for dense output |
| RAG plumbing | Separate vector DB + glue code | Built-in HNSW with hybrid search |
| Context assembly | Custom packer per use case | One query with token budget |
| I/O overhead | Multiple DB round-trips | Single columnar read |
| Consistency | Distributed transaction headaches | Local ACID guarantees |
| Deployment | Manage 4 services | Single binary, embed anywhere |
🧠 Context Query Builder — Assemble system + user + history + retrieval under a token budget
🔍 Hybrid Search — HNSW vectors + BM25 keywords with reciprocal rank fusion
🕸️ Graph Overlay — Lightweight relationship tracking for agent memory
⚡ Embedded-First — ~700KB binary, no runtime dependencies, SQLite-style simplicity
🔒 Full ACID — MVCC + WAL + Serializable Snapshot Isolation
📊 Columnar Storage — Read only the columns you need
Most "agent stacks" still glue together:
- a KV store (sessions / state)
- a vector DB (retrieval)
- a prompt packer (context budgeting, truncation)
- a relational DB (metadata)
…and then spend weeks maintaining brittle context assembly and token budgeting.
SochDB collapses that stack into one LLM‑native substrate: you store structured data + embeddings + history and ask the DB to produce a token‑efficient context payload.
- TOON: compact, model-friendly output for context windows
- Graph Overlay: lightweight agent-memory graph with BFS/DFS traversal and relationship tracking
- ContextQuery builder: token budgets, deduplication, and multi-source fusion
- Policy hooks: safety controls with pre-built policy templates and audit trails
- Tool routing: multi-agent coordination with dynamic discovery and load balancing
- Hybrid retrieval: vector + BM25 keyword with Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF)
- Multi-vector documents: chunk-level aggregation (max / mean / first)
- Vector search (HNSW): integrated into retrieval workflows
- SQL (SQL-92): SELECT / INSERT / UPDATE / DELETE / JOINs
- AST-based query executor: unified SQL processing with dialect normalization
- Multi-dialect compatibility: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite
- Idempotent DDL:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS,DROP TABLE IF EXISTS
- ACID transactions with MVCC
- WAL durability + group commit
- Serializable Snapshot Isolation (SSI)
- Columnar storage with projection pushdown (read only the columns you need)
- Sync-first architecture: async runtime (tokio) is optional
- ~500KB smaller binaries for embedded use cases
- Follows SQLite-style design for maximum compatibility
- Rust client:
sochdb - Python & Nodejs & Golang SDK with:
- Embedded mode (FFI) for lowest latency
- IPC mode (Unix sockets) for multi-process / service deployments
- Namespace isolation for multi-tenant apps
- Typed error taxonomy with remediation hints
- Bulk vector operations for high-throughput ingestion
- Single-node only (no replication / clustering yet)
| Problem | Typical approach | SochDB approach |
|---|---|---|
| Token waste | JSON/SQL payload bloat | TOON: dense, table-like output |
| RAG plumbing | External vector DB + glue | Built-in HNSW + quantization |
| Context assembly | multiple reads + custom packer | One context query with a budget |
| I/O amplification | row store reads all columns | columnar + projection pushdown |
Choose your preferred SDK:
# Rust - add to Cargo.toml
sochdb = "0.2"Language SDKs are maintained in separate repositories with their own release cycles:
| Language | Repository | Installation |
|---|---|---|
| Python | sochdb-python-sdk | pip install sochdb |
SochDB includes a production-ready Docker setup with gRPC server:
# Pull and run from Docker Hub
docker pull sushanth53/sochdb:latest
docker run -d -p 50051:50051 sushanth53/sochdb:latest
# Or use docker-compose
cd docker
docker compose up -dDocker Hub: sushanth53/sochdb
Features:
- ✅ Production-ready image (159MB)
- ✅ High availability setup with Traefik
- ✅ Prometheus + Grafana monitoring
- ✅ gRPC-Web support via Envoy
- ✅ Comprehensive test suite included
Performance (tested on Apple M-series):
- Single-threaded: ~2K ops/sec
- Concurrent (10 threads): ~10.5K ops/sec
- Latency p99: <2.2ms
See docker/README.md for full documentation.
| Node.js/TypeScript | sochdb-nodejs-sdk | npm install @sochdb/sochdb |
| Go | sochdb-go | go get github.com/sochdb/sochdb-go@latest |
| Rust | This repository | cargo add sochdb |
- Python Examples: sochdb-python-examples
- Node.js Examples: sochdb-nodejs-examples
- Go Examples: sochdb-golang-examples
For performance comparisons and benchmarks, see sochdb-benchmarks.
from sochdb import Database
db = Database.open("./my_db")
db.put(b"users/alice", b"Alice Smith")
print(db.get(b"users/alice").decode()) # "Alice Smith"
db.close()import { SochDatabase } from '@sochdb/sochdb';
const db = new SochDatabase('./my_db');
await db.put('users/alice', 'Alice Smith');
console.log(await db.get('users/alice')); // "Alice Smith"
await db.close();package main
import (
"fmt"
sochdb "github.com/sochdb/sochdb-go"
)
func main() {
db, _ := sochdb.Open("./my_db")
defer db.Close()
db.Put([]byte("users/alice"), []byte("Alice Smith"))
value, _ := db.Get([]byte("users/alice"))
fmt.Println(string(value)) // "Alice Smith"
}use sochdb::Database;
fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
let db = Database::open("./my_db")?;
db.put(b"users/alice", b"Alice Smith")?;
if let Some(value) = db.get(b"users/alice")? {
println!("{}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&value)); // "Alice Smith"
}
Ok(())
}Build lightweight graph structures on top of SochDB's KV storage for agent memory:
from sochdb import Database, GraphOverlay
db = Database.open("./my_db")
graph = GraphOverlay(db, namespace="agent_memory")
# Build conversation graph
graph.add_node("msg_1", {"role": "user", "content": "What's the weather?"})
graph.add_node("msg_2", {"role": "assistant", "content": "Let me check..."})
graph.add_node("msg_3", {"role": "tool", "content": "Sunny, 72°F"})
graph.add_node("msg_4", {"role": "assistant", "content": "It's sunny and 72°F"})
# Link causal relationships
graph.add_edge("msg_1", "msg_2", {"type": "triggers"})
graph.add_edge("msg_2", "msg_3", {"type": "invokes_tool"})
graph.add_edge("msg_3", "msg_4", {"type": "provides_context"})
# Traverse conversation history (BFS)
path = graph.bfs("msg_1", "msg_4")
print(f"Conversation flow: {' → '.join(path)}")
# Get all tool invocations (neighbors by edge type)
tools = graph.get_neighbors("msg_2", edge_filter={"type": "invokes_tool"})
print(f"Tools used: {tools}")
db.close()package main
import (
"fmt"
sochdb "github.com/sochdb/sochdb-go"
)
func main() {
db, _ := sochdb.Open("./my_db")
defer db.Close()
graph := sochdb.NewGraphOverlay(db, "agent_memory")
// Build agent action graph
graph.AddNode("action_1", map[string]interface{}{
"type": "search", "query": "best restaurants",
})
graph.AddNode("action_2", map[string]interface{}{
"type": "filter", "criteria": "italian",
})
graph.AddEdge("action_1", "action_2", map[string]interface{}{
"relationship": "feeds_into",
})
// Find dependencies (DFS)
deps := graph.DFS("action_1", 10)
fmt.Printf("Action dependencies: %v\n", deps)
}import { Database, GraphOverlay } from '@sochdb/sochdb';
const db = await Database.open('./my_db');
const graph = new GraphOverlay(db, 'agent_memory');
// Track entity relationships
await graph.addNode('entity_alice', { type: 'person', name: 'Alice' });
await graph.addNode('entity_acme', { type: 'company', name: 'Acme Corp' });
await graph.addNode('entity_project', { type: 'project', name: 'AI Initiative' });
await graph.addEdge('entity_alice', 'entity_acme', { relationship: 'works_at' });
await graph.addEdge('entity_alice', 'entity_project', { relationship: 'leads' });
// Find all entities Alice is connected to
const connections = await graph.getNeighbors('entity_alice');
console.log(`Alice is connected to: ${connections.length} entities`);
await db.close();Use Cases:
- Agent conversation history with causal chains
- Entity relationship tracking across sessions
- Action dependency graphs for planning
- Knowledge graph construction
from sochdb import Database, CollectionConfig, DistanceMetric
db = Database.open("./my_db")
# Create namespace for tenant isolation
with db.use_namespace("tenant_acme") as ns:
# Create vector collection with frozen config
collection = ns.create_collection(
CollectionConfig(
name="documents",
dimension=384,
metric=DistanceMetric.COSINE,
enable_hybrid_search=True, # Enable keyword search
content_field="text"
)
)
# Insert multi-vector document (e.g., chunked document)
collection.insert_multi(
id="doc_123",
vectors=[chunk_embedding_1, chunk_embedding_2, chunk_embedding_3],
metadata={"title": "SochDB Guide", "author": "Alice"},
chunk_texts=["Intro text", "Body text", "Conclusion"],
aggregate="max" # Use max score across chunks
)
# Hybrid search: vector + keyword with RRF fusion
results = collection.hybrid_search(
vector=query_embedding,
text_query="database performance",
k=10,
alpha=0.7 # 70% vector, 30% keyword
)
db.close()from sochdb import Database, ContextQuery, DeduplicationStrategy
db = Database.open("./my_db")
ns = db.namespace("tenant_acme")
collection = ns.collection("documents")
# Build context with token budgeting
context = (
ContextQuery(collection)
.add_vector_query(query_embedding, weight=0.7)
.add_keyword_query("machine learning optimization", weight=0.3)
.with_token_budget(4000) # Fit within model context window
.with_min_relevance(0.5) # Filter low-quality results
.with_deduplication(DeduplicationStrategy.EXACT)
.execute()
)
# Use in LLM prompt
prompt = f"""Context:
{context.as_markdown()}
Question: {user_question}
"""
print(f"Retrieved {len(context)} chunks using {context.total_tokens} tokens")
db.close()from sochdb import VectorIndex
import numpy as np
# Create HNSW index
index = VectorIndex(
path="./vectors",
dimension=384,
metric="cosine"
)
# Add vectors
embeddings = np.random.randn(1000, 384).astype(np.float32)
for i, embedding in enumerate(embeddings):
index.add(str(i), embedding.tolist())
# Build the index
index.build()
# Search
query = np.random.randn(384).astype(np.float32)
results = index.search(query.tolist(), k=10)
print(results) # [{'id': '1', 'distance': 0.23}, ...]import { VectorIndex } from '@sochdb/sochdb';
// Instantiate VectorIndex with path and config
const index = new VectorIndex('./vectors', {
dimension: 384,
metric: 'cosine'
});
// Add vectors and build index
await index.add('doc1', embedding1);
await index.add('doc2', embedding2);
await index.build();
// Search
const results = await index.search(queryEmbedding, 10);
console.log(results); // [{ id: 'doc1', distance: 0.23 }, ...]| Feature | Python | Node.js | Go | Rust |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic KV | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Transactions | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SQL Operations | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Vector Search | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Path API | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prefix Scanning | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Query Builder | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Note: While SDKs are maintained in separate repositories, they share the same core functionality and API design. Refer to individual SDK repositories for language-specific documentation and examples.
App / Agent Runtime
│
├─ sochdb-client (Rust / Python)
│
├─ sochdb-query (planner + TOON encoder + context builder)
└─ sochdb-kernel (MVCC + WAL + catalog)
├─ sochdb-storage (columnar LSCS + mmap)
└─ sochdb-index (B-Tree + HNSW)
| Crate | Description | Key Components |
|---|---|---|
sochdb-core |
Core types and TOON format | SochValue, SochSchema, SochTable, codec |
sochdb-kernel |
Database kernel | WAL, MVCC, transactions, catalog |
sochdb-storage |
Storage engine | LSCS columnar, mmap, block checksums |
sochdb-index |
Index structures | B-Tree, HNSW vector index |
sochdb-query |
Query execution | Cost optimizer, context builder, SOCH-QL |
sochdb-client |
Client SDK | SochConnection, PathQuery, BatchWriter |
sochdb-plugin-logging |
Logging plugin | Structured logging, tracing |
TOON (Tabular Object-Oriented Notation) is SochDB's compact serialization format designed specifically for LLM context windows—a token-optimized format that dramatically reduces token consumption.
document ::= table_header newline row*
table_header ::= name "[" count "]" "{" fields "}" ":"
name ::= identifier
count ::= integer
fields ::= field ("," field)*
field ::= identifier
row ::= value ("," value)* newline
value ::= null | bool | number | string | array | ref┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ JSON (156 tokens) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ [ │
│ {"id": 1, "name": "Alice", "email": "[email protected]"}, │
│ {"id": 2, "name": "Bob", "email": "[email protected]"}, │
│ {"id": 3, "name": "Charlie", "email": "[email protected]"} │
│ ] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TOON (52 tokens) — 67% reduction! │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ users[3]{id,name,email}: │
│ 1,Alice,[email protected] │
│ 2,Bob,[email protected] │
│ 3,Charlie,[email protected] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
| Type | TOON Syntax | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Null | ∅ |
∅ |
| Boolean | T / F |
T |
| Integer | number | 42, -17 |
| Float | decimal | 3.14159 |
| String | text or "quoted" |
Alice, "hello, world" |
| Array | [items] |
[1,2,3] |
| Reference | ref(table,id) |
ref(users,42) |
| Binary | b64:data |
b64:SGVsbG8= |
SochDB includes an HNSW (Hierarchical Navigable Small World) index for similarity search.
use sochdb_index::{HNSWIndex, HNSWConfig, DistanceMetric};
// Create index with custom parameters
let config = HNSWConfig {
m: 16, // Max connections per layer
m_max: 32, // Max connections at layer 0
ef_construction: 200, // Build-time search width
ef_search: 50, // Query-time search width
metric: DistanceMetric::Cosine, // Or Euclidean, DotProduct
..Default::default()
};
let index = HNSWIndex::with_config(config);use sochdb::{SochConnection, VectorCollection, SearchResult};
let conn = SochConnection::open("./vectors")?;
// Insert vectors
let embedding: Vec<f32> = get_embedding("Hello world");
conn.vector_insert("documents", 1, &embedding, Some(metadata))?;
// Search similar vectors
let query_embedding = get_embedding("Hi there");
let results: Vec<SearchResult> = conn.vector_search("documents", &query_embedding, 10)?;
for result in results {
println!("ID: {}, Distance: {:.4}", result.id, result.distance);
}| Metric | Use Case | Formula |
|---|---|---|
Cosine |
Text embeddings, normalized vectors | 1 - (a·b)/(‖a‖‖b‖) |
Euclidean |
Spatial data, unnormalized | √Σ(aᵢ-bᵢ)² |
DotProduct |
When vectors are pre-normalized | -a·b |
SochDB supports optional quantization to reduce memory usage with minimal recall loss:
| Precision | Memory | Search Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
F32 |
100% (baseline) | Baseline | Maximum precision |
F16 |
50% | ~Same | General embeddings |
BF16 |
50% | ~Same | ML model compatibility |
Tip: F16 typically provides 50% memory reduction with <1% recall degradation for most embedding models.
SochDB provides ACID transactions with MVCC (Multi-Version Concurrency Control) and WAL durability.
| Property | Implementation |
|---|---|
| Atomicity | Buffered writes with all-or-nothing commit |
| Consistency | Schema validation before commit |
| Isolation | MVCC snapshots with read/write set tracking |
| Durability | WAL with fsync, group commit support |
use sochdb::{SochConnection, ClientTransaction, IsolationLevel};
// Auto-commit (implicit transaction per operation)
conn.put("users/1/name", b"Alice")?;
// Explicit transaction with isolation level
let txn = conn.begin_with_isolation(IsolationLevel::Serializable)?;
conn.put_in_txn(txn, "users/1/name", b"Alice")?;
conn.put_in_txn(txn, "users/1/email", b"[email protected]")?;
conn.commit(txn)?; // SSI validation happens here
// Rollback on error
let txn = conn.begin()?;
if let Err(e) = do_something(&conn, txn) {
conn.rollback(txn)?;
return Err(e);
}
conn.commit(txn)?;| Level | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
ReadCommitted |
Sees committed data at statement start | ✅ Implemented |
SnapshotIsolation |
Reads see consistent point-in-time view | ✅ Implemented |
Serializable |
SSI with rw-antidependency cycle detection | ✅ Implemented |
use sochdb_kernel::SyncMode;
let config = DatabaseConfig {
sync_mode: SyncMode::Normal, // Group commit (recommended)
// sync_mode: SyncMode::Full, // Fsync every commit (safest)
// sync_mode: SyncMode::Off, // Periodic fsync (fastest)
..Default::default()
};SochDB provides pre-configured durability settings for common use cases:
| Preset | Sync Mode | Group Commit | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
throughput_optimized() |
Normal | Large batches | High-volume ingestion |
latency_optimized() |
Full | Small batches | Real-time applications |
max_durability() |
Full | Disabled | Financial/critical data |
use sochdb::ConnectionConfig;
// High-throughput batch processing
let config = ConnectionConfig::throughput_optimized();
// Low-latency real-time access
let config = ConnectionConfig::latency_optimized();
// Maximum durability (fsync every commit, no batching)
let config = ConnectionConfig::max_durability();SochDB's unique path-based API provides O(|path|) resolution via the Trie-Columnar Hybrid (TCH) structure.
collection/document_id/field
table/row_id/column
use sochdb::{SochConnection, PathQuery};
let conn = SochConnection::open("./data")?;
// Put a value at a path
conn.put("users/1/name", b"Alice")?;
conn.put("users/1/profile/avatar", avatar_bytes)?;
// Get a value
let name = conn.get("users/1/name")?;
// Delete at path
conn.delete("users/1/profile/avatar")?;
// Scan by prefix (returns all matching key-value pairs)
let user_data = conn.scan("users/1/")?;
for (key, value) in user_data {
println!("{}: {:?}", key, value);
}
// Query using PathQuery builder
let results = PathQuery::from_path(&conn, "users")
.select(&["id", "name", "email"])
.where_eq("status", "active")
.order_by("created_at", Order::Desc)
.limit(10)
.execute()?;Path: "users/1/name"
TCH Resolution (O(3) = O(|path|))
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ users → 1 → name │
│ ↓ ↓ ↓ │
│ Table Row Column │
│ Lookup Index Access │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
vs B-Tree (O(log N))
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ Binary search through │
│ potentially millions of keys │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
SochDB's ordered index can be disabled for write-optimized workloads:
use sochdb::ConnectionConfig;
// Default: ordered index enabled (O(log N) prefix scans)
let config = ConnectionConfig::default();
// Write-optimized: disable ordered index (~20% faster writes)
let mut config = ConnectionConfig::default();
config.enable_ordered_index = false;
// Note: scan_prefix becomes O(N) instead of O(log N + K)| Mode | Write Speed | Prefix Scan | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordered index on | Baseline | O(log N + K) | Read-heavy, prefix queries |
| Ordered index off | ~20% faster | O(N) | Write-heavy, point lookups |
Build LLM context with automatic token budget management.
use sochdb_query::{ContextSection, ContextSelectQuery};
use sochdb::ContextQueryBuilder;
let context = ContextQueryBuilder::new()
.for_session("session_123")
.with_budget(4096) // Token budget
// System prompt (highest priority)
.literal("SYSTEM", -1, "You are a helpful assistant")
// User profile from database
.section("USER", 0)
.get("user.profile.{name, email, preferences}")
.done()
// Recent conversation history
.section("HISTORY", 1)
.last(10, "messages")
.where_eq("session_id", session_id)
.done()
// Relevant documents via vector search
.section("DOCS", 2)
.search("knowledge_base", "query_embedding", 5)
.min_score(0.7)
.done()
.truncation(TruncationStrategy::PriorityDrop)
.format(ContextFormat::Soch)
.execute()?;
println!("Tokens used: {}/{}", context.token_count, 4096);
println!("Context:\n{}", context.context);SochDB uses a plugin architecture for extensibility without dependency bloat.
| Extension | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
StorageExtension |
Alternative backends | RocksDB, LSCS |
IndexExtension |
Custom indexes | Learned index, full-text |
ObservabilityExtension |
Metrics/tracing | Prometheus, DataDog |
CompressionExtension |
Compression algos | LZ4, Zstd |
use sochdb_kernel::{Extension, ExtensionInfo, ObservabilityExtension};
struct PrometheusMetrics { /* ... */ }
impl Extension for PrometheusMetrics {
fn info(&self) -> ExtensionInfo {
ExtensionInfo {
name: "prometheus-metrics".into(),
version: "1.0.0".into(),
description: "Prometheus metrics export".into(),
author: "Your Name".into(),
capabilities: vec![ExtensionCapability::Observability],
}
}
fn as_any(&self) -> &dyn std::any::Any { self }
fn as_any_mut(&mut self) -> &mut dyn std::any::Any { self }
}
impl ObservabilityExtension for PrometheusMetrics {
fn counter_inc(&self, name: &str, value: u64, labels: &[(&str, &str)]) {
// Push to Prometheus
}
fn gauge_set(&self, name: &str, value: f64, labels: &[(&str, &str)]) {
// Set gauge value
}
fn histogram_observe(&self, name: &str, value: f64, labels: &[(&str, &str)]) {
// Record histogram
}
// ... tracing methods
}
// Register the plugin
db.plugins().register_observability(Box::new(PrometheusMetrics::new()))?;High-throughput batch operations with group commit optimization.
use sochdb::{SochConnection, BatchWriter, GroupCommitConfig};
let conn = SochConnection::open("./data")?;
// Batch insert with auto-commit
let result = conn.batch()
.max_batch_size(1000)
.auto_commit(true)
.insert("events", vec![("id", id1), ("data", data1)])
.insert("events", vec![("id", id2), ("data", data2)])
// ... more inserts
.execute()?;
println!("Executed: {}, Failed: {}, Duration: {}ms",
result.ops_executed, result.ops_failed, result.duration_ms);
// Bulk insert for large datasets
let rows: Vec<Vec<(&str, SochValue)>> = generate_rows(10_000);
let result = conn.bulk_insert("events", rows)?;SochDB calculates optimal batch size using:
N* = √(2 × L_fsync × λ / C_wait)
Where:
- L_fsync = fsync latency (~5ms typical)
- λ = arrival rate (ops/sec)
- C_wait = cost per unit wait time
Version: 0.4.0 | Benchmark Date: January 2026 | Hardware: Apple M-series (ARM64) | Embeddings: Azure OpenAI text-embedding-3-small (1536 dimensions)
We benchmarked SochDB's HNSW index against ChromaDB and LanceDB using real embeddings from Azure OpenAI (not synthetic vectors). This provides realistic performance numbers for production RAG applications.
- Corpus: 1,000 documents (generated technical content)
- Queries: 100 search queries
- Embedding Model: Azure OpenAI
text-embedding-3-small(1536 dimensions) - Distance Metric: Cosine similarity
- Ground Truth: Brute-force exact search for recall calculation
| Database | Insert 1K Vectors | Insert Rate | Search p50 | Search p99 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SochDB | 133.3ms | 7,502 vec/s | 0.45ms ✅ | 0.61ms ✅ |
| ChromaDB | 308.9ms | 3,237 vec/s | 1.37ms | 1.73ms |
| LanceDB | 55.2ms | 18,106 vec/s | 9.86ms | 21.63ms |
Key Findings:
- SochDB search is 3x faster than ChromaDB (0.45ms vs 1.37ms p50)
- SochDB search is 22x faster than LanceDB (0.45ms vs 9.86ms p50)
- LanceDB has fastest inserts (columnar-optimized), but slowest search
- All databases maintain sub-25ms p99 latencies
| Component | Time | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Embedding API (Azure OpenAI) | 59.5s | 99.7% |
| SochDB Insert (1K vectors) | 0.133s | 0.2% |
| SochDB Search (100 queries) | 0.046s | 0.1% |
🎯 The embedding API is 333x slower than SochDB operations. In production RAG systems, the database is never the bottleneck—your LLM API calls are.
SochDB's HNSW index achieves >98% recall@10 with sub-millisecond latency using real Azure OpenAI embeddings.
- Ground truth computed via brute-force cosine similarity
- Recall@k = (# correct results in top-k) / k
- Tested across multiple HNSW configurations
| Configuration | Search (ms) | R@1 | R@5 | R@10 | R@20 | R@50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M=8, ef_c=50 | 0.42 | 0.990 | 0.994 | 0.991 | 0.994 | 0.991 |
| M=16, ef_c=100 | 0.47 | 0.980 | 0.986 | 0.982 | 0.984 | 0.986 |
| M=16, ef_c=200 | 0.44 | 0.970 | 0.984 | 0.988 | 0.990 | 0.986 |
| M=32, ef_c=200 | 0.47 | 0.980 | 0.982 | 0.981 | 0.984 | 0.985 |
| M=32, ef_c=400 | 0.52 | 0.990 | 0.986 | 0.983 | 0.979 | 0.981 |
Key Insights:
- All configurations achieve >98% recall@10 with real embeddings
- Best recall: 99.1% @ 0.42ms (M=8, ef_c=50)
- Recommended for RAG: M=16, ef_c=100 (balanced speed + quality)
- Smaller
Mvalues work well for text embeddings due to natural clustering
| Use Case | M | ef_construction | Expected Recall@10 | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time RAG | 8 | 50 | ~99% | <0.5ms |
| Balanced | 16 | 100 | ~98% | <0.5ms |
| Maximum Quality | 16 | 200 | ~99% | <0.5ms |
| Large-scale (10M+) | 32 | 200 | ~97% | <1ms |
| Dataset | JSON Tokens | TOON Tokens | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Users (100 rows, 5 cols) | 2,340 | 782 | 66.6% |
| Events (1000 rows, 3 cols) | 18,200 | 7,650 | 58.0% |
| Products (500 rows, 8 cols) | 15,600 | 5,980 | 61.7% |
| Query | Row Store | SochDB Columnar | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| SELECT 2 of 10 cols | 100% | 20% | 80% |
| SELECT 1 of 20 cols | 100% | 5% | 95% |
Methodology: SochDB vs SQLite under similar durability settings (
WALmode,synchronous=NORMAL). Results on Apple M-series hardware, 100k records.
| Database | Mode | Insert Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| SQLite | File (WAL) | ~1.16M ops/sec | Industry standard |
| SochDB | Embedded (WAL) | ~760k ops/sec | Group commit disabled |
| SochDB | put_raw | ~1.30M ops/sec | Direct storage layer |
| SochDB | insert_row_slice | ~1.29M ops/sec | Zero-allocation API |
# Install Python 3.12 (recommended for ChromaDB compatibility)
brew install [email protected]
python3.12 -m venv .venv312
source .venv312/bin/activate
# Install dependencies
pip install chromadb lancedb python-dotenv requests numpy
pip install -e sochdb-python-sdk/
# Build SochDB release library
cargo build --release
# Run real embedding benchmark (requires Azure OpenAI credentials in .env)
SOCHDB_LIB_PATH=target/release python3 benchmarks/real_embedding_benchmark.py
# Run recall benchmark
SOCHDB_LIB_PATH=target/release python3 benchmarks/recall_benchmark.py
# Run Rust benchmarks (SochDB vs SQLite)
cargo run -p benchmarks --releaseNote: Performance varies by workload. SochDB excels in LLM context assembly scenarios (token-efficient output, vector search, context budget management). SQLite remains the gold standard for general-purpose relational workloads.
pub struct DatabaseConfig {
/// Enable group commit for better throughput
pub group_commit: bool, // default: true
/// WAL sync mode
pub sync_mode: SyncMode, // default: Normal
/// Maximum WAL size before checkpoint
pub max_wal_size: u64, // default: 64MB
/// Memtable size before flush
pub memtable_size: usize, // default: 4MB
/// Block cache size
pub block_cache_size: usize, // default: 64MB
/// Compression algorithm
pub compression: Compression, // default: LZ4
}pub struct HNSWConfig {
/// Max connections per node per layer
pub m: usize, // default: 16
/// Max connections at layer 0
pub m_max: usize, // default: 32
/// Construction-time search width
pub ef_construction: usize, // default: 200
/// Query-time search width (adjustable)
pub ef_search: usize, // default: 50
/// Distance metric
pub metric: DistanceMetric, // default: Cosine
/// Level multiplier (mL = 1/ln(M))
pub ml: f32, // default: calculated
}| Method | Description | Returns |
|---|---|---|
open(path) |
Open/create database | Result<SochConnection> |
create_table(schema) |
Create a new table | Result<CreateResult> |
drop_table(name) |
Drop a table | Result<DropResult> |
batch() |
Start a batch writer | BatchWriter |
put(path, value) |
Put value at path | Result<()> |
get(path) |
Get value at path | Result<Option<Vec<u8>>> |
delete(path) |
Delete at path | Result<()> |
scan(prefix) |
Scan path prefix | Result<Vec<(String, Vec<u8>)>> |
begin() |
Begin transaction | Result<TxnHandle> |
commit(txn) |
Commit transaction | Result<()> |
rollback(txn) |
Rollback transaction | Result<()> |
vector_insert(...) |
Insert vector | Result<()> |
vector_search(...) |
Search similar vectors | Result<Vec<SearchResult>> |
fsync() |
Force sync to disk | Result<()> |
checkpoint() |
Create checkpoint | Result<u64> |
stats() |
Get statistics | ClientStats |
| Method | Description | Returns |
|---|---|---|
from_path(conn, path) |
Create query from path | PathQuery |
select(cols) |
Select columns | Self |
project(cols) |
Alias for select | Self |
where_eq(field, val) |
Equality filter | Self |
where_gt(field, val) |
Greater than filter | Self |
where_like(field, pat) |
Pattern match | Self |
order_by(field, dir) |
Sort results | Self |
limit(n) |
Limit results | Self |
offset(n) |
Skip results | Self |
execute() |
Execute query | Result<QueryResult> |
execute_toon() |
Execute and return TOON | Result<String> |
| Variant | Rust Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Null |
— | Null value |
Bool(bool) |
bool |
Boolean |
Int(i64) |
i64 |
Signed integer |
UInt(u64) |
u64 |
Unsigned integer |
Float(f64) |
f64 |
64-bit float |
Text(String) |
String |
UTF-8 string |
Binary(Vec<u8>) |
Vec<u8> |
Binary data |
Array(Vec<SochValue>) |
Vec<SochValue> |
Array of values |
Object(HashMap<String, SochValue>) |
HashMap |
Key-value object |
Ref { table, id } |
— | Foreign key reference |
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
Int |
64-bit signed integer |
UInt |
64-bit unsigned integer |
Float |
64-bit float |
Text |
UTF-8 string |
Bool |
Boolean |
Bytes |
Binary data |
Vector(dim) |
Float vector with dimension |
Array(inner) |
Array of inner type |
Optional(inner) |
Nullable type |
Ref(table) |
Foreign key to table |
- Rust 2024 edition (1.75+)
- Clang/LLVM (for SIMD optimizations)
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/sochdb/sochdb.git
cd sochdb
# Build all crates
cargo build --release
# Run tests
cargo test --all
# Run benchmarks
cargo bench| Feature | Crate | Description |
|---|---|---|
simd |
sochdb-client | SIMD optimizations for column access |
embedded |
sochdb-client | Use kernel directly (no IPC) |
full |
sochdb-kernel | All kernel features |
- Single node (no replication / clustering)
- WAL growth: call
checkpoint()periodically for long-running services - Group commit: tune per workload (disable for strictly sequential writes)
- Cost-based optimizer: experimental
- Agent flow metadata schema: planned
- Agent runtime library: planned
- Adaptive group commit: planned
- WAL compaction / auto-truncation: planned
SochDB is designed to be the brain, memory, and registry for AI agents—not by embedding a programming language, but by storing agent metadata that external runtimes interpret.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Your Application │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │ Agent Runtime│ │ SochDB │ │ LLM │ │
│ │ (executor) │◄──►│ (metadata) │ │ (worker) │ │
│ └──────┬───────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────▲───────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ 1. Load flow from DB │ │
│ │ 2. Build prompt from node config │ │
│ │ 3. Call LLM ─────────────────────────►│ │
│ │ 4. Parse result, update state │ │
│ │ 5. Choose next edge, repeat │ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
| Table | Purpose |
|---|---|
agent_flows |
Flow definitions: name, entry node, version |
agent_nodes |
Nodes: LLM steps, tool calls, decisions, loops, reflections |
agent_edges |
Edges with conditions for routing |
agent_sessions |
Runtime state per user/conversation |
agent_reflections |
Feedback and learning data |
Flows are graphs where each node has a kind:
llm_step— Call the LLM with a prompt templatetool_call— Execute a tool (API, function, DB query)decision— Branch based on previous outputloop_start/loop_end— Iteration with exit conditionsreflection— Ask LLM to evaluate and improvesubflow— Invoke another flow
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Classify │────►│ Retrieve │────►│ Answer │
│ Intent │ │ Context │ │ │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └──────┬──────┘
│
┌─────────────┐ │
│ Reflect │◄───────────┘
│ (optional) │
└─────────────┘
The LLM only sees one node at a time:
flow: support_assistant
node: classify_intent
goal: classify the user's message
input:
user_message: "I can't access my account"
context:
last_episodes: [...]
allowed_outputs: ["billing", "bug", "feature", "other"]
This keeps prompts small and stable. The runtime handles control flow.
| Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
| Separation of concerns | SochDB = data, Runtime = execution, LLM = reasoning |
| Language-agnostic | Rust, Python, TypeScript runtimes share the same flows |
| Debuggable | Every step, state change, and decision is in the DB |
| Learnable | Reflection nodes + stored feedback enable continuous improvement |
| No prompt injection risk | LLM never sees "execute this code"—just structured tasks |
Templates for common agentic patterns:
- Reflection loop — Execute, evaluate, retry if needed
- Tree-of-thought — Parallel exploration with best-path selection
- Self-correction — Validate output, fix errors automatically
- Tool-first-then-answer — Gather data before responding
These ship as rows in agent_flows / agent_nodes that you can clone and customize.
Local-first success unlocks the cloud.
SochDB is currently a local-first, embedded database — and it's working great! Based on the success of this MVP, I'm exploring a cloud offering:
| Phase | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Local MVP | ✅ Live | Embedded + IPC modes, full ACID, vector search |
| Cloud (SochDB Cloud) | 🚧 On the way | Hosted, managed SochDB with sync |
Your feedback shapes the cloud roadmap. If you're interested in a hosted solution, let us know what you need!
This is an MVP — and your support makes it better.
SochDB started as an experiment: what if databases were designed for LLMs from day one? The result is what you see here — a working, tested, and (I hope) useful database.
But here's the thing: software gets better with users. Every bug report, feature request, and "hey, this broke" message helps SochDB become more robust. You might find rough edges. You might encounter surprises. That's expected — and fixable!
What I need from you:
- 🐛 Report bugs — even small ones
- 💡 Request features — what's missing for your use case?
- ⭐ Star the repo — it helps others discover SochDB
- 📣 Share your experience — blog posts, tweets, anything
Your usage and feedback don't just help me — they help everyone building with SochDB. Let's make this great together.
Note: SochDB is a single-person project built over weekends and spare time. I'm the sole developer, architect, and maintainer. This means you might find rough edges, incomplete features, or areas that need polish. The good news? Your contributions can make a real impact. More hands on this project means more advanced features, better stability, and faster progress. Every PR, issue report, and suggestion directly shapes what SochDB becomes.
— Sushanth
Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
# Install development dependencies
cargo install cargo-watch cargo-criterion
# Run in watch mode
cargo watch -x "test --all"
# Run specific benchmark
cargo criterion --bench vector_searchSochDB (sochdb)
Copyright (C) 2026 Sushanth Reddy Vanagala
This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0-or-later).
See the LICENSE file for the full text.
What this means:
- ✅ You can use, modify, and distribute SochDB freely
- ✅ You must share your modifications under AGPL-3.0
- ✅ If you run SochDB as a network service, you must share your source code
- 📖 Full license text: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html
For commercial licensing options or questions, contact: [email protected]
- HNSW algorithm: Malkov & Yashunin, 2018
- MVCC implementation inspired by PostgreSQL and SQLite
- Columnar storage design influenced by Apache Arrow
- Vamana (DiskANN): Subramanya et al., "DiskANN: Fast Accurate Billion-point Nearest Neighbor Search on a Single Node", NeurIPS 2019
- HNSW: Malkov & Yashunin, "Efficient and robust approximate nearest neighbor search using Hierarchical Navigable Small World graphs", IEEE TPAMI 2018
- PGM-Index: Ferragina & Vinciguerra, "The PGM-index: a fully-dynamic compressed learned index with provable worst-case bounds", VLDB 2020
- ARIES: Mohan et al., "ARIES: A Transaction Recovery Method Supporting Fine-Granularity Locking and Partial Rollbacks Using Write-Ahead Logging", ACM TODS 1992
- SSI: Cahill et al., "Serializable Isolation for Snapshot Databases", ACM SIGMOD 2008
- LSM-Tree: O'Neil et al., "The Log-Structured Merge-Tree (LSM-Tree)", Acta Informatica 1996
- Soch https://github.com/toon-format/toon
Built with ❤️ for the AI era