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The RAG infrastructure problem

Building AI applications with memory typically requires:
  1. A vector database (Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant, Milvus)
  2. An embedding API (OpenAI, Cohere, or self-hosted)
  3. A backend service to coordinate queries
  4. Operational overhead for backups, scaling, monitoring
For a simple “search my documents” feature, you’re suddenly managing distributed infrastructure. Memvid takes a different approach: Smart Frames in a single file. No embeddings required. No API calls. 11x faster search.

The single-file advantage

What’s in an .mv2 file?

Everything is self-contained. No sidecar files. No auxiliary databases. No cloud sync. Just one portable .mv2 file.

What this enables

True Portability

Copy your knowledge base to a USB drive. Email it. Deploy it anywhere. It just works.

Offline First

No internet required. No API keys for basic operations. Works on airplanes.

Zero Ops

No databases to manage. No Docker containers. No cloud bills. Just a file.

Privacy by Default

Your data never leaves your machine unless you explicitly send it somewhere.

Head-to-head comparison

Memvid vs. Pinecone

Benchmark results (1,000 documents):
MetricMemvidPineconeWinner
Setup145ms7.4sMemvid (51x)
Search latency24ms267msMemvid (11x)
Storage4.9 MB localCloudMemvid
API calls01,005Memvid
AspectMemvidPinecone
DeploymentSingle file, runs anywhereCloud-only SaaS
Setup time145ms7.4 seconds + account setup
Offline supportFull functionalityNone
Data locationYour machinePinecone’s cloud
Search modesSmart Frames (Lexical + Vector + Temporal + Entity)Vector only
Cost (100K vectors)Free$70+/month
ScalingVertical (bigger machine)Horizontal (managed)
Why is Memvid search 11x faster? No network round-trips. Pinecone requires: (1) API call to embed your query, (2) API call to search vectors. Memvid searches locally with Smart Frames.

Memvid vs. ChromaDB

AspectMemvidChromaDB
StorageSingle .mv2 fileSQLite + multiple files
PortabilityCopy one fileCopy directory structure
Crash recoveryEmbedded WAL, automaticManual recovery
Search modesSmart Frames (Lexical + Vector + Temporal + Entity)Vector only
Built-in RAG.ask() methodBuild with LangChain
Time-travel queriesYesNo
Entity extractionBuilt-in (auto-tagging, triplets)No
Visual search (CLIP)YesNo

Memvid vs. Weaviate

AspectMemvidWeaviate
DeploymentSingle fileDocker/Kubernetes required
Setuppip install (seconds)Docker compose, configuration
Search modesSmart Frames (Lexical + Vector + Temporal + Entity)Hybrid (BM25 + Vector)
Time-travel queriesYesNo
Entity extractionBuilt-inNo
GraphQL APINo (SDK only)Yes
Multi-tenancySeparate filesBuilt-in
SchemaSchema-freeSchema required

Memvid vs. pgvector

AspectMemvidpgvector
DatabaseNone requiredPostgreSQL required
SQL queriesNoYes
PortabilitySingle fileDatabase backup/restore
Search modesSmart Frames (Lexical + Vector + Temporal + Entity)Vector + manual full-text
Time-travel queriesYesNo
Entity extractionBuilt-inNo
Setuppip install (seconds)Postgres + extension install

Smart Frame capabilities

Features you won’t find in typical vector databases:

Time-travel queries

Search your memory as it existed at any point in time:
# What did we know about the budget last week?
results = mem.find("budget", as_of_timestamp=1704067200)

# What was in the knowledge base before we added the Q4 report?
results = mem.find("revenue", as_of_frame=100)

Visual search with CLIP

Search images and PDF pages by visual content:
from memvid_sdk.clip import get_clip_provider

clip = get_clip_provider('local')  # No API keys needed
embedding = clip.embed_text("pie chart showing market share")

# Find visually similar content
results = mem.visual_search(embedding, k=10)

Entity extraction (Logic Mesh)

Automatically extract and traverse relationships:
from memvid_sdk.entities import get_entity_extractor

ner = get_entity_extractor('openai', entity_types=['PERSON', 'COMPANY', 'PRODUCT'])
entities = ner.extract(document_text)

# Traverse the entity graph
related = mem.follow("Microsoft", link="acquired", hops=2)

Built-in RAG with citations

Ask questions and get sourced answers without building chains:
answer = mem.ask("What was our Q4 revenue?")

print(answer["answer"])              # "Q4 revenue was $2.4M, up 15% YoY..."
print(answer.get("sources", [])[:1]) # [{"title": "...", "uri": "...", ...}]

Embedded crash recovery

The Write-Ahead Log (WAL) ensures you never lose data:
# Even if power fails here...
mem.put(title="Important", text="Critical data...")

# ...the data is recoverable on next open
mem = use('basic', 'knowledge.mv2')  # Auto-recovers uncommitted writes

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