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Address benwtrent's technical accuracy feedback on bbq_disk
Fixes three technical inaccuracies identified by @benwtrent: 1. Line 153: Changed "simpler datasets" to "smaller datasets" for bbq_flat - More accurate description of when to use bbq_flat 2. Line 176: Improved bbq_disk intro to clarify RAM constraint focus - Changed "store vectors on disk" to "minimize memory usage" - All indexes already store on disk, so this was misleading 3. Line 202: Complete rewrite of bbq_disk explanation with technical accuracy - Removed dataset-dependent performance claims (100 MB RAM, 15ms latency) - Added clear explanation of what makes bbq_disk different: * Keeps vectors in compressed form on disk * Only loads/decompresses portions on-demand during queries * Avoids filesystem cache dependency (unlike standard HNSW) * Dramatically reduces RAM requirements * Enables vector search on larger datasets with minimal memory * Trade-off: slower queries vs in-memory approaches This explanation clarifies the key distinction: standard HNSW relies on filesystem cache to load vectors into memory for fast search, while DiskBBQ avoids this by streaming compressed vectors from disk. 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <[email protected]>
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solutions/search/semantic-search/semantic-search-semantic-text.md

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1. Reference to a text embedding inference endpoint. This example uses the built-in E5 endpoint that is automatically available. For custom models, you must create the endpoint first using the [Create {{infer}} API](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-inference-put).
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2. Use Better Binary Quantization with HNSW indexing for optimal memory efficiency. This setting applies to the underlying `dense_vector` field that stores the embeddings.
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You can also use `bbq_flat` for simpler datasets where you need maximum accuracy at the expense of speed:
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You can also use `bbq_flat` for smaller datasets where you need maximum accuracy at the expense of speed:
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```console
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PUT semantic-embeddings-flat
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1. Use disk-optimized BBQ for simpler use cases with fewer vectors. This requires less compute resources during indexing.
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For very large datasets where memory is constrained, use `bbq_disk` (DiskBBQ) to store vectors on disk:
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For very large datasets where RAM is constrained, use `bbq_disk` (DiskBBQ) to minimize memory usage:
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```console
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PUT semantic-embeddings-disk
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serverless: unavailable
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```
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1. Use disk-optimized BBQ for simpler use cases with fewer vectors. This requires less compute resources during indexing. Available in Elasticsearch 9.2+, this option stores compressed vectors on disk, reducing RAM usage to as little as 100 MB while maintaining query latencies around 15ms.
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1. Use DiskBBQ when RAM is limited. Available in Elasticsearch 9.2+, this option keeps vectors in compressed form on disk and only loads/decompresses small portions on-demand during queries. Unlike standard HNSW indexes (which rely on filesystem cache to load vectors into memory for fast search), DiskBBQ dramatically reduces RAM requirements by avoiding the need to cache vectors in memory. This enables vector search on much larger datasets with minimal memory, though queries will be slower compared to in-memory approaches.
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Other quantization options include `int8_hnsw` (8-bit integer quantization) and `int4_hnsw` (4-bit integer quantization):
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