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Vector Search

1 post · Oct 2026

What this trail covers

This post introduces the NEAREST BY JOIN, a new capability for Databricks Runtime that integrates vector search as a first-class SQL join. It details the architectural approach, including query rewrite strategies, optimizations within the Photon execution engine, and the implementation of a vector index in an open storage format. This capability aims to enable efficient and scalable similarity search directly within SQL queries, making vector search accessible to a broader range of data analytics and AI workloads.

All Databricks trails
  1. NEAREST BY Join: Scaling Vector Search in Databricks RuntimeThis post details the engineering effort behind integrating vector search into Databricks Runtime as a SQL join. It covers the architectural design, the query rewrite process to translate vector search operations into SQL, deep optimizations within the Photon execution engine for high-performance vector computations, and the development of a vector index stored in an open format. The core contribution is making vector search a native, scalable SQL operation.