Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust) • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#11

Post by GeorgeCurtis » Tue, May 13, 2025, 6:50 PM UTC

J_Shelby_J wrote: post #9

How do you think about building the graph relationships? Any special approaches you use?

Pretty much the same way you would with any graph DB, with the added benefit of being able to treat a vector as a node by creating those explicit relationships between them.

Does that answer your question properly?

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#12

Post by lillecarl » Tue, May 13, 2025, 6:54 PM UTC

Nice "I'll have this name" when there's already the helix editor :)

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#13

Post by javierluraschi » Tue, May 13, 2025, 6:59 PM UTC

What is the max number of dimensions supported for a vector?

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#14

Post by GeorgeCurtis » Tue, May 13, 2025, 7:07 PM UTC

lillecarl wrote: post #12

Nice "I'll have this name" when there's already the helix editor :)

First I'm hearing from it. The Beatles must've been super pissed when Apple took their name :(

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#15

Post by huevosabio » Tue, May 13, 2025, 7:13 PM UTC

Can I run this as an embedded DB like sqlite?

Can I sidestep the DSL? I want my LLMs to generate queries and using a new language is going to make that hard or expensive.

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#16

Post by lillecarl » Tue, May 13, 2025, 7:14 PM UTC

GeorgeCurtis wrote: post #14

lillecarl wrote: post #12

Nice "I'll have this name" when there's already the helix editor :)

First I'm hearing from it. The Beatles must've been super pissed when Apple took their name :(

https://crates.io/search?q=Helix

I'm surprised none in the team searched crates.io once before picking the name. Good luck!

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#17

Post by GeorgeCurtis » Tue, May 13, 2025, 7:14 PM UTC

javierluraschi wrote: post #13

What is the max number of dimensions supported for a vector?

There is currently no cap. We will probably impose a similar cap to Qdrant or Pinecone some time soon ~64k. There's obviously a performance trade off as you go up, but we hope to massively offset this by doing binary quantisation within the next couple of months.

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#18

Post by cormullion » Tue, May 13, 2025, 7:33 PM UTC

lillecarl wrote: post #12

Nice "I'll have this name" when there's already the helix editor :)

perhaps it’s a homage to the famous Helix database (see Wikipedia)

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#19

Post by bbatsell » Tue, May 13, 2025, 7:45 PM UTC

GeorgeCurtis wrote: post #14

lillecarl wrote: post #12

Nice "I'll have this name" when there's already the helix editor :)

First I'm hearing from it. The Beatles must've been super pissed when Apple took their name :(

I can't tell if this is droll sarcasm, but just in case not...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer

Re: Show HN: HelixDB – Open-source vector-graph database for AI applications (Rust)

#20

Post by GeorgeCurtis » Tue, May 13, 2025, 7:54 PM UTC

lillecarl wrote: post #16

GeorgeCurtis wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First I'm hearing from it. The Beatles must've been super pissed when Apple took their name :(

https://crates.io/search?q=Helix I'm surprised none in the team searched crates.io once before picking the name. Good luck!

we just started off as a side project and thought the name fitted well. With the strands, graph type structure, connections...

We didn't think of getting people to use it until we found it was solving a real pain point for people, so weren't worried about trademarks or names. There was no other helix db so that was good enough for us at the time.