Retake – Open-Source Hybrid Search for Postgres
Hey HN! We're Phil and Ming, co-founders of Retake (https://github.com/getretake/retake). Retake is an open source tool that adds keyword and semantic (i.e hybrid) search to databases. We’ve started by extending the capabilities of Postgres with an SDK for lightning-fast queries. We built Retake to fix two issues: keeping vectors in sync with Postgres in real time is difficult, and most vector databases aren’t built for hybrid search. A quick refresher: “keyword search” refers to a technique where results are scored based on the appearance of exact words or terms.…
Retake – Open-Source Hybrid Search for Postgres launched on August 10, 2023 with 88 votes, #1,170 of 4,347 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 3 years on.
In plain words
Retake is an open-source tool that adds keyword and semantic hybrid search capabilities to Postgres databases. It provides an SDK for fast queries while keeping vector embeddings synchronized with data in real time. The tool is designed for developers who need both exact-match and meaning-based search without maintaining separate vector databases, combining keyword search with semantic understanding to improve search relevance.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
One Postgres for your application data, full-text search, vector retrieval, and aggregations. Home of the pg_search extension. - paradedb/paradedb
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN! We're Phil and Ming, co-founders of Retake (https://github.com/getretake/retake). Retake is an open source tool that adds keyword and semantic (i.e hybrid) search to databases. We’ve started by extending the capabilities of Postgres with an SDK for lightning-fast queries. We built Retake…
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