# asg017/sqlite-vss

A SQLite extension for efficient vector search, based on Faiss!

Repository: https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vss
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/sqlite-vss
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: sqlite, sqlite-extension, vector-search, faiss
Last push: 2024-05-05T20:00:16+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 22/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 95
- inputs: {"age_days": 1338, "days_push": 850, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1998, forks 75 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:03.658189+00:00)

## What it is
sqlite-vss is a SQLite extension written in C++ that adds vector similarity search to SQLite using Faiss, via vss0 virtual tables and a vss_search function. It is no longer in active development; the author recommends its successor sqlite-vec.

## Use cases
- add vector similarity search to an existing sqlite database
- build a semantic search engine with embeddings in sqlite
- store and query embeddings for a recommendation system
- run k-nearest-neighbor queries over embedding vectors locally
- build a lightweight RAG or Q&A tool without a separate vector database

## When to choose
- you already use SQLite and want embedded vector search with no extra server
- you need a bring-your-own-embeddings local vector index based on Faiss
- you want a simple fts5-like API for nearest-neighbor queries

## When to avoid
- starting a new project - use sqlite-vec instead, as sqlite-vss is not actively developed
- you need UPDATE support on vector rows
- you need frequent small inserts or deletes, which are slow
- you need a production-grade distributed vector database

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: vector-database, search-engine, database
- domain: databases, machine-learning
- platform: windows, cli
- tags: sqlite-extension, vector-search, faiss, embeddings, knn, semantic-search, deprecated-in-favor-of-sqlite-vec, search, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- asg017/sqlite-vss (main) score 22

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:03.658189+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:02:12.389404+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vss (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:03.658189+00:00, sha 408a63dbcdbd)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.