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lancedb/docs/web/basics/lancedb-embedded.mdx
T
Jack YeandClaude Sonnet 5 b32afe9794 docs: add an Introduction nav section with a dedicated Embedded vs Enterprise comparison (#4829)
## Summary

- Adds a new top-level "Introduction" nav section before "Getting
Started": LanceDB, LanceDB Embedded, LanceDB Enterprise, Embedded vs
Enterprise.
- Trims the landing page's combined
Architecture/Embedded/Enterprise/Compare block down to a short pointer
section (keeping its `#architecture` anchor), moving that content into
two new pages: `basics/lancedb-embedded.mdx` and
`basics/embedded-vs-enterprise.mdx`.
- `basics/embedded-vs-enterprise.mdx` consolidates the
feature-comparison table and the Enterprise overview's own comparison
content (previously duplicated across multiple pages and, within this
page, repeated across a dimension table, several narrative subsections,
and a usage-differences list) into one comparison page with each section
covering a distinct angle.
- Repoints the `/enterprise` and `/enterprise/deployment` redirects at
`/basics/embedded-vs-enterprise`, since the previous destination only
resolves once the Enterprise overlay is applied and fails
`rust/lancedb/src/docs.rs`'s link-resolution test against this repo's
own `docs/web` tree.

## Companion change

lancedb/sophon#9718 trims the Enterprise overview page to drop the
content that moved here, and relocates its nav insertion into the new
Introduction group.

Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-11-04 20:25:17 -08:00

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2.5 KiB
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---
title: "LanceDB Embedded"
sidebarTitle: "LanceDB Embedded"
description: "The open-source, embedded retrieval library that runs inside your application process."
icon: cube
keywords: ["embedded", "open source", "oss", "local", "sdk", "lancedb embedded"]
---
**LanceDB Embedded** is an open-source, embedded retrieval library, with client SDKs in Python, TypeScript and
Rust -- the application itself plans queries, builds indexes, and runs background work, with no separate database
server to deploy. It reads and writes tables on local disk or in object storage from inside your application
process, on the same [Lance](/basics/lance) format and table model that [LanceDB Enterprise](/enterprise/index)
builds on.
<Frame caption="LanceDB Embedded: the LanceDB SDK and the Lance format run in your application, reading and writing tables on local disk or in object storage.">
<img src="/static/assets/images/overview/lancedb-embedded.png" alt="LanceDB Embedded architecture" width="440" />
</Frame>
## Why use LanceDB Embedded? {#why-use-lancedb-embedded}
LanceDB Embedded fits local retrieval applications, notebooks, development, and single-node data pipelines, where
your application controls its own compute resources and [table maintenance](/maintenance/compaction).
- **No infrastructure to run** -- the library runs inside your process. There is no server to deploy, configure,
or keep available.
- **Free and open source** -- `pip install lancedb` (or the TypeScript or Rust equivalent) and start reading and
writing tables, with no account or service to set up first.
- **Full local control** -- your application decides where table data lives, when maintenance such as compaction
and indexing runs, and how much compute each operation gets.
- **The same table format as Enterprise** -- Embedded and [Enterprise](/enterprise/index) share the same Lance
format and table model, so moving to a distributed deployment later does not require a data conversion step.
## Get started {#get-started}
<CardGroup cols={2}>
<Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
Create a table, add data, and run your first search in a few lines of code.
</Card>
<Card title="Choose an SDK" icon="code-compare" href="/basics/sdk">
Pick between the Python, TypeScript, and Rust SDKs.
</Card>
</CardGroup>
When your data or traffic outgrows a single machine, or you need managed infrastructure, private deployment, or
platform support, see [LanceDB Enterprise](/enterprise/index) and the
[feature-by-feature comparison](/basics/embedded-vs-enterprise).