> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.paradedb.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Vector Search Works

> Understand how ParadeDB natively supports vector search

<Note>This is a beta feature available in versions `0.25.0` and above.</Note>

Vector search finds rows whose embeddings are closest to a query vector. It is
useful when relevance depends on semantic similarity rather than exact token
matches.

Today, many Postgres applications use the
[pgvector](https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector) extension for similarity
search. pgvector works well for many use cases, but separate vector indexes can
struggle when a query also needs selective filters, text predicates, or frequent
updates.

The ParadeDB index supports pgvector's `vector` type inside the same index that
stores text and columnar data. This lets ParadeDB evaluate vector similarity,
full-text predicates, filters, and ranking from one index-backed query path.

ParadeDB vectors use ParadeDB-built index structures designed for fast
nearest-neighbor retrieval at scale. They are independent from pgvector's HNSW
and IVFFlat indexes, while still using pgvector's `vector` type.

Because vectors live in the same index as text and filters, vector search can be
combined with [text search](/docs/concepts/full-text/overview) into a single ranking.
See [How Hybrid Search Works](/docs/concepts/hybrid/overview).

For indexing, query syntax, and tuning options, see the [Vector / Semantic Search
reference](/docs/reference/vector/overview).
