Using sqlite-vec in Node.js, Deno, and Bun

To use sqlite-vec in Node.js, Deno or Bun, install the sqlite-vec NPM package using your favorite package manager:

npm

npm install sqlite-vec

Bun

bun install sqlite-vec

Deno

deno add npm:sqlite-vec

Once installed, use the sqliteVec.load() function to load sqlite-vec SQL functions into a SQLite connection.

import * as sqliteVec from "sqlite-vec";
import Database from "better-sqlite3";

const db = new Database(":memory:");
sqliteVec.load(db);

const { vec_version } = db
  .prepare("select vec_version() as vec_version;")
  .get();

console.log(`vec_version=${vec_version}`);

The load() function is compatible with node:sqlite, better-sqlite3, node-sqlite3, jsr:@db/sqlite (Deno), and bun:sqlite.

Working with vectors in JavaScript

if your vectors are represented as an array of numbers, wrap it in a Float32Array, and use the .buffer accessor to bind as a parameter to sqlite-vec SQL functions.

const embedding = new Float32Array([0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4]);
const stmt = db.prepare("select vec_length(?)");
console.log(stmt.run(embedding.buffer)); // 4

Node.js

If you're on Node.js 23.5.0 or above, you can use the builtin node:sqlite module with sqlite-vec like so:

import { DatabaseSync } from "node:sqlite";
import * as sqliteVec from "sqlite-vec";

const db = new DatabaseSync(":memory:", { allowExtension: true });
sqliteVec.load(db);

const embedding = new Float32Array([0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4]);
const { result } = db
  .prepare("select vec_length(?) as result")
  .get(new Uint8Array(embedding.buffer));

console.log(result); // 4

See simple-node2/demo.mjs for a complete node:sqlite + sqlite-vec demo.

Alternatively, you can use the better-sqlite3 NPM package with sqlite-vec in Node as well.

import * as sqliteVec from "sqlite-vec";
import Database from "better-sqlite3";

const db = new Database(":memory:");
sqliteVec.load(db);

const embedding = new Float32Array([0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4]);
const { result } = db
  .prepare("select vec_length(?)",)
  .get(embedding);

console.log(result); // 4

See simple-node/demo.mjs for a more complete demo.

Deno

Here's a quick recipe of using sqlite-vec with jsr:@db/sqlite in Deno. It will only work on Deno version 1.44 or greater, because of a bug in previous Deno versions.

import { Database } from "jsr:@db/sqlite";
import * as sqliteVec from "npm:sqlite-vec";

const db = new Database(":memory:");
db.enableLoadExtension = true;
sqliteVec.load(db);
db.enableLoadExtension = false;

const embedding = new Float32Array([0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4]);
const [result] = db
  .prepare("select vec_length(?)")
  .value<[string]>(new Uint8Array(embedding.buffer)!);
console.log(result); // 4

See simple-deno/demo.ts for a more complete Deno demo.

The better-sqlite3 example above also works in Deno, when the better-sqlite3 import is prefixed with npm::

import * from "better-sqlite3"; 
import * from "npm:better-sqlite3"; 

Bun

Here's a quick recipe of using sqlite-vec with bun:sqlite in Bun.

import { Database } from "bun:sqlite";
import * as sqliteVec from "sqlite-vec";

// MacOS *might* have to do this, as the builtin SQLite library on MacOS doesn't allow extensions
Database.setCustomSQLite("/usr/local/opt/sqlite3/lib/libsqlite3.dylib");

const db = new Database(":memory:");
sqliteVec.load(db);

const embedding = new Float32Array([0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4]);
const { result } = db
  .prepare("select vec_length(?) as result",)
  .get(embedding);

console.log(result); // 4

See simple-bun/demo.ts for a more complete Bun demo.

The better-sqlite3 example above also works with Bun.