Dev tools · September 13, 2023
Victor, a browser-optimized vector database written in Rust
Hey HN, My friend Sam and I were bored one weekend, and wanted to make something self-contained but still useful. We ended up with Victor [0], a vector database designed to run in the browser. It’s written in Rust, which gives us access to things like super-fast and compact serialization and deserialization, but it’s compiled to WASM and uses web-sys to interact with the browser’s JS APIs to write the database contents to disk. We worked hard on designing it in a way that makes sense for the browser. It uses the private origin file system [1] and stores the vectors in a compact format (one…
In plain words
Victor is a vector database that runs directly in web browsers, built with Rust and compiled to WebAssembly. It stores vector data locally using the browser's private file system with compact serialization to minimize storage overhead. The database includes built-in PCA compression that automatically activates when files exceed 10MB, reducing vector dimensions to conserve space. Designed for developers building browser-based applications that need efficient vector storage and retrieval without server infrastructure.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN, My friend Sam and I were bored one weekend, and wanted to make something self-contained but still useful. We ended up with Victor [0], a vector database designed to run in the browser. It’s written in Rust, which gives us access to things like super-fast and compact serialization and deserialization, but it’s compiled to WASM and uses web-sys to interact with the browser’s JS APIs to write the database contents to disk. We worked hard on designing it in a way that makes sense for the browser. It uses the private origin file system [1] and stores the vectors in a compact format (one byte per vector dimension). Since storage space is at a premium in the browser, we also provide built-in PCA to allow you to compress your vectors. It’s completely transparent to the user and automatically kicks in once a vector storage file exceeds 10mb. We’re trying to think of a better way to design this API, so let us know any ideas you have! [0]: https://github.com/not-pizza/victor/ [1]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/File_System...
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