`docs/src/python/python.md` is the whole Python API reference, but it is
maintained by hand and had drifted from the public API. Anything not
listed there simply doesn't get rendered, so a number of public,
documented, tested APIs were invisible to users — most notably branch
management, where `diff` and `merge` live.
I audited every public symbol reachable from `lancedb` and its
subpackages against the `:::` directives on the page. This adds the
missing ones:
- **Branching** — `Branches`, `AsyncBranches` (`list` / `create` /
`checkout` / `delete` / `diff` / `merge`)
- **Tables** — `TableStatistics` (returned by `Table.stats()`; the
fragment-level stats classes were already listed)
- **Full text queries** — `FullTextQuery`, `MatchQuery`, `PhraseQuery`,
`BoostQuery`, `MultiMatchQuery`, `BooleanQuery`, `FullTextOperator`,
`Occur`
- **Querying** — `LanceEmptyQueryBuilder`, `LanceTakeQueryBuilder`,
`AsyncTakeQuery`
- **Indices** — `Fm` (the FM-index for substring search), `IndexConfig`
- **Blobs** — `blob`, `BlobType`, `BlobFile`
- **Namespaces** — `connect_namespace`, `connect_namespace_async`, and
both namespace connection classes
- **Remote config** — `TlsConfig`, `HeaderProvider`, `OAuthConfig`,
`OAuthFlowType`
- **Rerankers** — the `Reranker` base class plus `JinaReranker`,
`RRFReranker`, `MRRReranker`, `AnswerdotaiRerankers`,
`VoyageAIReranker`, `WatsonxReranker` (5 of 12 were listed)
- **Embeddings** — `get_registry`, `register`, and the 14 embedding
functions that were missing (3 of 17 were listed)
- **PyTorch** — `StreamingDataset` and the permutation API it is built
on
- **Misc** — `Session`, `tokenize`, `FtsToken`, `pydantic.Vector`,
`pydantic.MultiVector`, `instrument_lancedb_metrics`, and the two
exception types
It also repairs cross-references in docstrings that no longer resolve:
links into guide pages that have since moved to lancedb.com
(`querying-an-ann-index`, `experimental-full-text-search`),
`lance.dataset` references with no inventory behind them, and the
relative targets `[Table](Table)` and `[PyArrow Table](pyarrow.Table)`.
Deliberately left out: concrete implementation classes reached through
their abstract base (`LanceTable`, `LanceDBConnection`,
`RemoteDBConnection`), query base classes already covered by
`inherited_members: true`, and internal plumbing such as
`FullTextSearchQuery` and `ColumnOrdering`.
## Testing
The docs job only runs on pushes to `main`, so I built the site locally
and compared against a build of `upstream/main`: every added entry
resolves, and no symbol that was rendered before stopped being rendered
when the four packages moved to automodule. `mkdocs build --strict`
exits 0 on this branch, against 61 warnings on `main`.
## Also in this PR
`lancedb.index`, `lancedb.embeddings`, `lancedb.remote` and
`lancedb.rerankers` are now rendered by a single mkdocstrings directive
each, driven by the module's `__all__`, rather than a hand-maintained
list. These four are where most of the drift was, and `__all__` is
harder to forget than a docs page. `lancedb.embeddings` had no
`__all__`; without one mkdocstrings renders no members at all for a
re-export package, so one is added. AGENTS.md gains a section on how the
page is wired up and how to build the docs locally.
Rendering all that code for the first time surfaced ~100 more build
warnings, which would have made #3707 (turning on `mkdocs build
--strict`) harder to land, so the warning backlog is cleared here too.
97 of the 158 warnings were one systematic false positive — griffe
cannot see the generated `__init__` of a pydantic dataclass, so every
documented parameter looks unknown — switched off via
`warn_unknown_params`. The remaining 61 came from 15 docstrings with
real bugs: prose trailing a `Parameters` section (we were rendering
parameters called `The`, `you` and `To`), types dropped because numpydoc
needs spaces around the colon, `num_partitions, default sqrt(num_rows)`
parsing as a list of names and inventing a `default` parameter, and one
parameter indented five spaces. `mkdocs build --strict` now exits 0.
---
#3747 (the coverage test that keeps this from happening again) is
stacked on this branch, so review it after this one.
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
## What
Expose custom FTS stop-word lists in the Python and TypeScript public
APIs, including their standalone tokenize helpers and remote index
creation.
This PR supports concrete string lists only. It does not add file or
LanceDB-table stop-word sources.
## Why
Rust already exposes Lance's custom stop-word list option. The Python
and TypeScript APIs did not pass it through, and local index details did
not retain the full tokenizer parameters needed by index-backed
tokenization after reopening a table.
## How
- Add `custom_stop_words` / `customStopWords` to the Python and
TypeScript FTS and tokenize options.
- Preserve `None` / `undefined`, empty lists, and list contents without
normalization.
- Load the persisted FTS segment parameters when returning local index
details.
- Serialize the concrete list in remote create-index requests.
- Keep Python and TypeScript tests thin; behavior, persistence, query
tokenization, and remote JSON coverage live primarily in Rust.
## Validation
- `cargo check --quiet --features remote --tests --examples`
- `cargo clippy --quiet --features remote --tests --examples`
- `cargo test --quiet --features remote --tests`
- Python extension rebuild with `uv` and `maturin`
- Targeted Python tests: 4 passed
- Python `ruff format --check` and `ruff check`
- TypeScript build, typecheck, Biome lint, generated docs, and targeted
tests
---------
Co-authored-by: Yang Cen <yangcen@Yangs-Mac-mini.local>
Adds three index configuration classes to the Python API Reference that
were missing from the documentation:
- `IvfSq` - IVF Scalar Quantization index
- `IvfRq` - IVF RabitQ Quantization index
- `HnswFlat` - HNSW without quantization (stores raw vectors)
These classes are exported in `lancedb.index.__all__` and have complete
docstrings in the source, but weren't showing up in the rendered docs at
https://lancedb.github.io/lancedb/python/python/#indices-asynchronous.
Closes#1855
This wires Lance's existing `jieba/*` and `lindera/*` native FTS
tokenizers through the Python SDK instead of leaving them behind
disabled features and narrow public typing. It also documents the
`LANCE_LANGUAGE_MODEL_HOME` model layout and adds Python coverage for
successful CJK indexing plus missing-model error guidance.
Closes#2168.
<!-- This is an auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai
-->
## Summary by CodeRabbit
- **Documentation**
- Expanded Python API reference with new entries for table metadata,
tagging, remote client configuration, and index statistics.
- Added documentation for new classes and modules in both synchronous
and asynchronous sections, including `FragmentStatistics`,
`FragmentSummaryStats`, `Tags`, `AsyncTags`, `IndexStatistics`, and
remote configuration options.
<!-- end of auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai -->
This PR does the following:
- Pare down the docs to only what's needed (Python, JS/TS API docs and a
pointer to Rust docs)
- Styling changes to be more in line with the main website theme
The relative URLs remain unchanged, so assuming CI passes, there should
be no breaking changes from the main docs site that points back here.
Adds example for querying a dataset with SQL
<!-- This is an auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai
-->
## Summary by CodeRabbit
- **Documentation**
- Added new guides on querying LanceDB tables using SQL with DuckDB and
Apache Datafusion.
- Included detailed instructions for integrating LanceDB with Datafusion
in Python.
- Updated navigation to include Datafusion and SQL querying
documentation.
- Improved formatting in TypeScript and vectordb update examples for
consistency.
- **Tests**
- Added a new test demonstrating SQL querying on Lance tables via
DataFusion integration.
<!-- end of auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai -->
---------
Co-authored-by: Weston Pace <weston.pace@gmail.com>
Reviving #1966.
Closes#1938
The `search()` method can apply embeddings for the user. This simplifies
hybrid search, so instead of writing:
```python
vector_query = embeddings.compute_query_embeddings("flower moon")[0]
await (
async_tbl.query()
.nearest_to(vector_query)
.nearest_to_text("flower moon")
.to_pandas()
)
```
You can write:
```python
await (await async_tbl.search("flower moon", query_type="hybrid")).to_pandas()
```
Unfortunately, we had to do a double-await here because `search()` needs
to be async. This is because it often needs to do IO to retrieve and run
an embedding function.
Address usage mistakes in
https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/issues/2135.
* Add example of how to use `LanceModel` and `Vector` decorator
* Add test for pydantic doc
* Fix the example to directly use LanceModel instead of calling
`MyModel.to_arrow_schema()` in the example.
* Add cross-reference link to pydantic doc site
* Configure mkdocs to watch code changes in python directory.
This includes several improvements and fixes to the Python Async query
builders:
1. The API reference docs show all the methods for each builder
2. The hybrid query builder now has all the same setter methods as the
vector search one, so you can now set things like `.distance_type()` on
a hybrid query.
3. Re-rankers are now properly hooked up and tested for FTS and vector
search. Previously the re-rankers were accidentally bypassed in unit
tests, because the builders overrode `.to_arrow()`, but the unit test
called `.to_batches()` which was only defined in the base class. Now all
builders implement `.to_batches()` and leave `.to_arrow()` to the base
class.
4. The `AsyncQueryBase` and `AsyncVectoryQueryBase` setter methods now
return `Self`, which provides the appropriate subclass as the type hint
return value. Previously, `AsyncQueryBase` had them all hard-coded to
`AsyncQuery`, which was unfortunate. (This required bringing in
`typing-extensions` for older Python version, but I think it's worth
it.)
binary vectors and hamming distance can work on only IVF_FLAT, so
introduce them all in this PR.
---------
Signed-off-by: BubbleCal <bubble-cal@outlook.com>
* Add `See Also` section to `cleanup_old_files` and `compact_files` so
they know it's linked to `optimize`.
* Fixes link to `compact_files` arguments
* Improves formatting of note.
### Changes to sync API
* Updated `LanceTable` and `LanceDBConnection` reprs
* Add `storage_options`, `data_storage_version`, and
`enable_v2_manifest_paths` to sync create table API.
* Add `storage_options` to `open_table` in sync API.
* Add `list_indices()` and `index_stats()` to sync API
* `create_table()` will now create only 1 version when data is passed.
Previously it would always create two versions: 1 to create an empty
table and 1 to add data to it.
### Changes to async API
* Add `embedding_functions` to async `create_table()` API.
* Added `head()` to async API
### Refactors
* Refactor index parameters into dataclasses so they are easier to use
from Python
* Moved most tests to use an in-memory DB so we don't need to create so
many temp directories
Closes#1792Closes#1932
---------
Co-authored-by: Weston Pace <weston.pace@gmail.com>
This PR makes the following aesthetic and content updates to the docs.
- [x] Fix max width issue on mobile: Content should now render more
cleanly and be more readable on smaller devices
- [x] Improve image quality of flowchart in data management page
- [x] Fix syntax highlighting in text at the bottom of the IVF-PQ
concepts page
- [x] Add example of Polars LazyFrames to docs (Integrations)
- [x] Add example of adding data to tables using Polars (guides)
This PR makes incremental changes to the documentation.
* Closes#697
* Closes#698
- [x] Add dark mode
- [x] Fix headers in navbar
- [x] Add `extra.css` to customize navbar styles
- [x] Customize fonts for prose/code blocks, navbar and admonitions
- [x] Inspect all admonition boxes (remove redundant dropdowns) and
improve clarity and readability
- [x] Ensure that all images in the docs have white background (not
transparent) to be viewable in dark mode
- [x] Improve code formatting in code blocks to make them consistent
with autoformatters (eslint/ruff)
- [x] Add bolder weight to h1 headers
- [x] Add diagram showing the difference between embedded (OSS) and
serverless (Cloud)
- [x] Fix [Creating an empty
table](https://lancedb.github.io/lancedb/guides/tables/#creating-empty-table)
section: right now, the subheaders are not clickable.
- [x] In critical data ingestion methods like `table.add` (among
others), the type signature often does not match the actual code
- [x] Proof-read each documentation section and rewrite as necessary to
provide more context, use cases, and explanations so it reads less like
reference documentation. This is especially important for CRUD and
search sections since those are so central to the user experience.
- [x] The section for [Adding
data](https://lancedb.github.io/lancedb/guides/tables/#adding-to-a-table)
only shows examples for pandas and iterables. We should include pydantic
models, arrow tables, etc.
- [x] Add conceptual tutorial for IVF-PQ index
- [x] Clearly separate vector search, FTS and filtering sections so that
these are easier to find
- [x] Add docs on refine factor to explain its importance for recall.
Closes#716
- [x] Add an FAQ page showing answers to commonly asked questions about
LanceDB. Closes#746
- [x] Add simple polars example to the integrations section. Closes#756
and closes#153
- [ ] Add basic docs for the Rust API (more detailed API docs can come
later). Closes#781
- [x] Add a section on the various storage options on local vs. cloud
(S3, EBS, EFS, local disk, etc.) and the tradeoffs involved. Closes#782
- [x] Revamp filtering docs: add pre-filtering examples and redo headers
and update content for SQL filters. Closes#783 and closes#784.
- [x] Add docs for data management: compaction, cleaning up old versions
and incremental indexing. Closes#785
- [ ] Add a benchmark section that also discusses some best practices.
Closes#787
---------
Co-authored-by: Ayush Chaurasia <ayush.chaurarsia@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Will Jones <willjones127@gmail.com>
Add `to_list` to return query results as list of python dict (so we're
not too pandas-centric). Closes#555
Add `to_pandas` API and add deprecation warning on `to_df`. Closes#545
Co-authored-by: Chang She <chang@lancedb.com>
BREAKING CHANGE: The `score` column has been renamed to `_distance` to
more accurately describe the semantics (smaller means closer / better).
---------
Co-authored-by: Lei Xu <lei@lancedb.com>
Adds:
* Make `mkdocstrings` aware we are using numpy-style docstrings
* Fixes broken link on `index.md` to Python API docs (and added link to
node ones)
* Added examples to various classes.
* Added doctest to verify examples work.
Will Jones
Yang Cen
Vishal Kumar Singh
Xuanwo
Pratik Dey
Prashanth Rao
Renato Marroquin
Lei Xu
QianZhu
Weston Pace
Chang She
Xin Hao
Ayush Chaurasia
Rok Mihevc
Jai