feat: allow fast_search on python remote table (#1747)

Add `fast_search` parameter to query builder and remote table to support
skipping flat search in remote search

python/python/lancedb/query.py

@@ -88,6 +88,11 @@ class Query(pydantic.BaseModel):
           tuning advice.
     offset: int
         The offset to start fetching results from
+    fast_search: bool
+        Skip a flat search of unindexed data. This will improve
+        search performance but search results will not include unindexed data.
+
+        - *default False*.
     """
 
     vector_column: Optional[str] = None
@@ -124,6 +129,8 @@ class Query(pydantic.BaseModel):
 
     offset: int = 0
 
+    fast_search: bool = False
+
 
 class LanceQueryBuilder(ABC):
     """An abstract query builder. Subclasses are defined for vector search,
@@ -139,6 +146,7 @@ class LanceQueryBuilder(ABC):
         vector_column_name: str,
         ordering_field_name: Optional[str] = None,
         fts_columns: Union[str, List[str]] = [],
+        fast_search: bool = False,
     ) -> LanceQueryBuilder:
         """
         Create a query builder based on the given query and query type.
@@ -155,6 +163,8 @@ class LanceQueryBuilder(ABC):
             If "auto", the query type is inferred based on the query.
         vector_column_name: str
             The name of the vector column to use for vector search.
+        fast_search: bool
+            Skip flat search of unindexed data.
         """
         # Check hybrid search first as it supports empty query pattern
         if query_type == "hybrid":
@@ -196,7 +206,9 @@ class LanceQueryBuilder(ABC):
         else:
             raise TypeError(f"Unsupported query type: {type(query)}")
 
-        return LanceVectorQueryBuilder(table, query, vector_column_name, str_query)
+        return LanceVectorQueryBuilder(
+            table, query, vector_column_name, str_query, fast_search
+        )
 
     @classmethod
     def _resolve_query(cls, table, query, query_type, vector_column_name):
@@ -565,6 +577,7 @@ class LanceVectorQueryBuilder(LanceQueryBuilder):
         query: Union[np.ndarray, list, "PIL.Image.Image"],
         vector_column: str,
         str_query: Optional[str] = None,
+        fast_search: bool = False,
     ):
         super().__init__(table)
         self._query = query
@@ -575,6 +588,7 @@ class LanceVectorQueryBuilder(LanceQueryBuilder):
         self._prefilter = False
         self._reranker = None
         self._str_query = str_query
+        self._fast_search = fast_search
 
     def metric(self, metric: Literal["L2", "cosine", "dot"]) -> LanceVectorQueryBuilder:
         """Set the distance metric to use.
@@ -675,6 +689,7 @@ class LanceVectorQueryBuilder(LanceQueryBuilder):
             vector_column=self._vector_column,
             with_row_id=self._with_row_id,
             offset=self._offset,
+            fast_search=self._fast_search,
         )
         result_set = self._table._execute_query(query, batch_size)
         if self._reranker is not None:

python/python/lancedb/remote/__init__.py

@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ class VectorQuery(BaseModel):
 
     vector_column: str = VECTOR_COLUMN_NAME
 
+    fast_search: bool = False
+
 
 @attrs.define
 class VectorQueryResult:

python/python/lancedb/remote/table.py

@@ -270,6 +270,7 @@ class RemoteTable(Table):
         vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
         query_type="auto",
         fts_columns: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
+        fast_search: bool = False,
     ) -> LanceVectorQueryBuilder:
         """Create a search query to find the nearest neighbors
         of the given query vector. We currently support [vector search][search]
@@ -314,6 +315,12 @@ class RemoteTable(Table):
             - If the table has multiple vector columns then the *vector_column_name*
             needs to be specified. Otherwise, an error is raised.
 
+        fast_search: bool, optional
+            Skip a flat search of unindexed data. This may improve
+            search performance but search results will not include unindexed data.
+
+            - *default False*.
+
         Returns
         -------
         LanceQueryBuilder
@@ -343,6 +350,7 @@ class RemoteTable(Table):
             query_type,
             vector_column_name=vector_column_name,
             fts_columns=fts_columns,
+            fast_search=fast_search,
         )
 
     def _execute_query(