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Flowdira studio

AI glossary

What is vector search?

Vector search is a technique that finds results by meaning rather than exact keywords, by converting text into numerical 'embeddings' and matching items that are closest in meaning.

Traditional search matches keywords — if the words don't appear, it misses the result. Vector search instead turns text into embeddings: long lists of numbers that capture meaning. Two pieces of text about the same idea end up 'close together' in this numeric space, so a search for 'cancel my plan' can find a page titled 'ending your subscription' even with no shared words.

This semantic matching is what makes modern AI search feel smart, and it's the retrieval engine behind RAG — finding the most relevant passages of your content to feed an AI model. It also powers better product search and recommendations.

We build vector search into client products — for AI assistants, documentation search and ecommerce discovery — so users find things by what they mean, not just the exact words they type.

Common questions

How is vector search different from keyword search?
Keyword search matches exact words; vector search matches meaning. By comparing embeddings, it can surface relevant results even when the wording is completely different, which makes it far better for natural-language queries.
What is vector search used for?
It powers semantic site and product search, recommendations, and the retrieval step in RAG — finding the most relevant content to ground an AI's answers. Anywhere meaning matters more than exact wording, vector search helps.

Want this built into your product?

We design and integrate fast websites and real AI features — from RAG assistants to lightning-fast front-ends.