dirsql 0.4.29__tar.gz → 0.4.31__tar.gz

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31}/Cargo.lock

@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ checksum = "6184e33543162437515c2e2b48714794e37845ec9851711914eec9d308f6ebe8"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "dirsql"
-version = "0.4.29"
+version = "0.4.31"
 dependencies = [
  "assert_cmd",
  "axum",
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "dirsql-py-ext"
-version = "0.4.29"
+version = "0.4.31"
 dependencies = [
  "dirsql",
  "pyo3",

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31}/PKG-INFO

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Metadata-Version: 2.4
 Name: dirsql
-Version: 0.4.29
+Version: 0.4.31
 Requires-Dist: tomli>=2 ; python_full_version < '3.11'
 Requires-Dist: bin-shim>=0.1
 Summary: Ephemeral SQL index over a local directory

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31}/docs/.vitepress/config.ts

@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
             { text: 'Parse your files into columns', link: '/howto/parse-files-into-columns' },
             { text: 'Query JSON file contents', link: '/howto/query-json' },
             { text: 'Search documents by meaning', link: '/howto/search-by-meaning' },
+            { text: 'Add a search index to a table', link: '/howto/search-indexes' },
             { text: "Skip files you don't want indexed", link: '/howto/skip-files' },
             { text: 'Load a SQLite extension', link: '/howto/load-extension' },
             { text: 'Keep the index across restarts', link: '/howto/persist' },

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31}/docs/howto/define-tables.md

@@ -107,7 +107,9 @@ maintain nothing. `name` still has to be the row table (`posts`); the virtual
 table lives beside it under its own name. The batch runs once, when the table
 is created, and editing any part of it rebuilds a
 [persistent cache](./persist.md) from scratch. Full rules:
-[Batch `ddl`](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl).
+[Batch `ddl`](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl); pasteable FTS5 and vector
+templates, with the trigger mistakes that fail silently, are in
+[Add a search index to a table](./search-indexes.md).
 
 ## Going further
 

{dirsql-0.4.29/packages/rust → dirsql-0.4.31}/docs/howto/query-without-config.md

@@ -55,7 +55,9 @@ question over a few hundred files, wasteful for a large tree you query
 repeatedly. When that day comes, [declare a table](./define-tables.md): it is
 indexed once, kept fresh by the watcher, and can persist across restarts. The
 zero-config query is the floor; a named table is the escalation path — nothing
-you write here has to be thrown away to get there.
+you write here has to be thrown away to get there. The two sides in full, and
+why indexes belong to only one of them, are in
+[how `dirsql` thinks](../explanation.md#two-table-kinds-opposite-trade-offs).
 
 ## Notes
 

{dirsql-0.4.29/packages/python → dirsql-0.4.31}/docs/howto/search-by-meaning.md

@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 Ask a question in plain language and get the closest documents back — even
 when they share no keywords with it. Install
 [`dirsql-plugin-embeddings`](../plugins.md#dirsql-plugin-embeddings) and
-semantic search becomes plain SQL: the plugin's `embed()` function turns
-text into vectors, [`sqlite-vec`](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec)'s
-`vec_distance_cosine()` measures distance, and `ORDER BY … LIMIT` does the
-ranking. No config, no API keys, no services — the model runs locally.
+semantic search becomes plain SQL: the plugin's `embed()` function turns text
+into vectors and loads [`sqlite-vec`](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec),
+which does the distance math. No API keys, no services — the model runs
+locally.
 
 Suppose short notes live in `notes/*.md`:
 
@@ -40,7 +40,32 @@ The first-ever run downloads the model (on the order of a hundred megabytes,
 with progress on stderr); after that it loads from the local cache. Results
 print one `path<TAB>distance` line per match, closest first.
 
-## The SQL behind it
+## Which shape
+
+The one-liner embeds every matched file on every run. That is the right trade
+for a question you ask once, and the wrong one for a corpus you search
+repeatedly — where a stored [`vec0` index](./search-indexes.md#vector-search-vec0)
+embeds each file once, at ingest, and a query embeds only the question:
+
+| | This page: path-table | [Vector index](./search-indexes.md#vector-search-vec0) |
+|---|---|---|
+| Setup | none | a `[[table]]` with a `ddl` batch |
+| Freshness | always current — the walk is the read | watcher-maintained; survives restarts under [`--persist`](./persist.md) |
+| Per query | one `embed()` round trip **per matched file**, plus a walk that reads every file's content | one `embed()` round trip **total**, plus an in-process KNN scan |
+| Top-k | `ORDER BY … LIMIT k` | `MATCH … AND k = …` |
+| Good for | a one-off question, a small corpus, an ad-hoc glob | a corpus you query repeatedly |
+
+The index only pays off when the table outlives the query — under `--persist`,
+or inside a long-running [`dirsql server`](../reference/cli.md). A one-shot
+`dirsql query` against an ephemeral index rebuilds the table, and therefore
+re-embeds the corpus, before it answers; that is strictly more work than the
+subquery below. The full recipe — the width probe, the `ddl` batch, both
+triggers, and what a model-id edit costs — is
+[Add a search index to a table](./search-indexes.md#vector-search-vec0).
+
+The rest of this page is the zero-setup shape.
+
+## The SQL behind the one-liner
 
 The one-liner generates and runs ordinary `dirsql` SQL, and you can write it
 yourself when you want more than ranked paths — a different projection, a
@@ -79,7 +104,9 @@ Reading the query inside-out:
    and its distance are NULL too — and SQLite sorts NULLs *first* ascending,
    so without this line the unrankable files take the top-k slots.
 4. `vec_distance_cosine(...)` computes cosine distance between the two
-   vectors; `ORDER BY distance LIMIT 3` keeps the three nearest.
+   vectors; `ORDER BY distance LIMIT 3` keeps the three nearest. There is no
+   `vec0` table here, so `sqlite-vec`'s `MATCH … AND k = …` does not apply —
+   for a plain expression, `ORDER BY … LIMIT k` *is* its documented top-k.
 
 Structured files compose with SQL's JSON operators — embed one field instead
 of the whole file:
@@ -93,24 +120,19 @@ ORDER BY vec_distance_cosine(emb, embed('local private models'))
 LIMIT 10
 ```
 
-::: tip Top-k is `LIMIT k`
-If you know `sqlite-vec` you may reach for its `MATCH … AND k = 10` idiom.
-That syntax belongs to `sqlite-vec`'s `vec0` virtual table, which the table
-above does not use: a `[[table]]`'s own `name` is always a per-file row table.
-For plain expressions, `sqlite-vec`'s own documented pattern is exactly what
-this guide uses: `ORDER BY vec_distance_cosine(...) LIMIT k`. To get the `vec0`
-idiom instead, declare the `vec0` table alongside the row table in the same
-[`ddl` batch](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl) and fill it from a trigger.
-:::
+The same projection works as an `on-file` hook feeding the indexed shape:
+parse the field in the hook, store it as a column, and the trigger embeds it
+once instead of on every query.
 
 ## Repeat runs are cheap
 
 Computed vectors are cached on disk, keyed on content and model
 ([vector cache](../plugins.md#vector-cache)) — re-running a search over
-unchanged files skips the model entirely and re-embeds only what changed.
-And the plugin costs nothing when idle: a query that never calls `embed()`
-spawns no worker and loads no model
-([zero cost when unused](../plugins.md#zero-cost-when-unused)).
+unchanged files skips the model entirely and re-embeds only what changed. That
+takes the *inference* out of the shape above, but not the walk or the per-file
+round trip; only a stored index removes those. And the plugin costs nothing
+when idle: a query that never calls `embed()` spawns no worker and loads no
+model ([zero cost when unused](../plugins.md#zero-cost-when-unused)).
 
 ## How `embed()` gets into SQL
 

dirsql-0.4.31/docs/howto/search-indexes.md

@@ -0,0 +1,245 @@
+# Add a search index to a table
+
+Make a declared table answer search queries instead of scanning: a B-tree for
+lookups, an FTS5 index for keywords, a `vec0` index for meaning. All three are
+statements in the table's [`ddl` batch](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl), so
+SQLite does the work and `dirsql` maintains nothing.
+
+The templates below are meant to be pasted and edited. Both are shaped around
+one worked example — notes in `notes/*.md`, parsed into a `notes` table by an
+`extract.py` that prints `{"slug": …, "title": …, "body": …}` per file, exactly
+as in [Define tables for your files](./define-tables.md).
+
+## Why triggers, and why only two
+
+`dirsql` writes file rows with plain `INSERT` and `DELETE`; an update is a
+delete and an insert in one transaction, and there is no `UPDATE` path on user
+rows. So an insert trigger and a delete trigger cover every way a row can
+change — during the initial build, on each [watcher](./react-to-changes.md)
+event, and when a [persistent cache](./persist.md) reconciles a tree that
+moved on. There is no third trigger to write and no maintenance command to run.
+
+The triggers are also the part that goes wrong, which is why the templates
+spell them out rather than hiding them behind an abstraction.
+
+## Keyword search (FTS5)
+
+FTS5 ships inside SQLite — no extension, no install. Declare an
+external-content index beside the row table and let the two triggers feed it:
+
+```toml
+[[table]]
+name    = "notes"
+glob    = "notes/**/*.md"
+on-file = "python3 extract.py {path}"
+ddl     = '''
+CREATE TABLE notes (slug TEXT, title TEXT, body TEXT);
+
+CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE notes_fts USING fts5(
+  body,
+  content='notes',
+  content_rowid='rowid',
+  tokenize='porter unicode61'
+);
+CREATE TRIGGER notes_ai AFTER INSERT ON notes BEGIN
+  INSERT INTO notes_fts(rowid, body) VALUES (new.rowid, new.body);
+END;
+CREATE TRIGGER notes_ad AFTER DELETE ON notes BEGIN
+  INSERT INTO notes_fts(notes_fts, rowid, body)
+    VALUES ('delete', old.rowid, old.body);
+END;
+'''
+```
+
+`content='notes'` makes the index store only its own search structures and
+read column values back from `notes`, so the text is not duplicated.
+`tokenize='porter unicode61'` stems English on top of the default
+case-folding, so *deploying* matches *deploy*; drop the `porter` half to match
+whole words only.
+
+Query the index and join back to the row table on `rowid`:
+
+```bash
+dirsql query "
+SELECT n.slug,
+       bm25(notes_fts) AS score,
+       snippet(notes_fts, 0, '[', ']', '…', 8) AS excerpt
+FROM notes_fts JOIN notes AS n ON n.rowid = notes_fts.rowid
+WHERE notes_fts MATCH 'deploy'
+ORDER BY score" -c ./.dirsql.toml
+```
+
+```json
+[{"excerpt":"Rebase before you [deploy]. Keep pull requests small.","score":-1.0476190476190478e-6,"slug":"branches"},
+ {"excerpt":"…the spaghetti goes in. [Deploy] the garlic late.","score":-8.461538461538463e-7,"slug":"pasta"}]
+```
+
+**`bm25()` returns negative scores, and better matches are more negative** —
+so `ORDER BY score` ascending is best-first, with no `DESC`. `snippet()`'s
+arguments are the table, the column index, the open and close markers, the
+ellipsis, and the token budget.
+
+### Check the delete trigger
+
+A wrong or missing delete trigger fails **silently**: the index keeps rows for
+files that are gone, and they keep matching. Nothing errors.
+
+The symptom is a hit that has no row behind it, which a `LEFT JOIN` exposes:
+
+```bash
+dirsql query "
+SELECT n.slug
+FROM notes_fts LEFT JOIN notes AS n ON n.rowid = notes_fts.rowid
+WHERE notes_fts MATCH 'frost'" -c ./.dirsql.toml --persist
+```
+
+```json
+[{"slug":null}]
+```
+
+A `null` slug is a stale index entry — the base row is gone and the index did
+not hear about it. With the `notes_ad` trigger above, the deleted file's entry
+is gone too and the query returns nothing.
+
+Note the `--persist` flag: without it every run rebuilds the index from
+scratch, so a broken delete trigger cannot show itself. Deletes are visible
+against a [warm cache](./persist.md) and through the watcher, which is exactly
+where the staleness would have bitten.
+
+## Vector search (`vec0`)
+
+Two pieces beyond SQLite: the
+[`sqlite-vec`](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec) extension supplies the
+`vec0` virtual table, and
+[`dirsql-plugin-embeddings`](../plugins.md#dirsql-plugin-embeddings) supplies
+`embed()`. Installing the plugin brings both — its config fragment declares
+the extension too, and the launcher
+[discovers it](../reference/cli.md#plugins):
+
+```bash
+uvx --with dirsql-plugin-embeddings dirsql query "…" -c ./.dirsql.toml
+```
+
+Loading `sqlite-vec` by hand instead (another runtime, a pinned build) is
+[Load a SQLite extension](./load-extension.md).
+
+### Find your model's dimension
+
+A `vec0` column declares a fixed width, so the template needs the number of
+components your model emits. `embed()` returns the vector as JSON text, so ask
+it:
+
+```bash
+uvx --with dirsql-plugin-embeddings dirsql query \
+  "SELECT json_array_length(embed('probe', 'minishlab/potion-retrieval-32M')) AS dims"
+```
+
+Run it once per model id you intend to use, and substitute the answer for the
+`512` in the template below. (The first call for a model downloads it — see
+[model](../plugins.md#model).) Getting it wrong is at least loud — the build fails naming both
+numbers:
+
+```
+dirsql query: failed to load config: SQLite error: Dimension mismatch for
+inserted vector for the "embedding" column. Expected 8 dimensions but received 4.
+```
+
+### The template
+
+```toml
+[[table]]
+name    = "notes"
+glob    = "notes/**/*.md"
+on-file = "python3 extract.py {path}"
+ddl     = '''
+CREATE TABLE notes (slug TEXT, title TEXT, body TEXT);
+
+-- Width must equal what the probe printed for the model id named below.
+CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE notes_vec
+  USING vec0(embedding float[512] distance_metric=cosine);
+CREATE TRIGGER notes_vi AFTER INSERT ON notes
+WHEN new.body IS NOT NULL BEGIN
+  INSERT INTO notes_vec(rowid, embedding)
+    VALUES (new.rowid, embed(new.body, 'minishlab/potion-retrieval-32M'));
+END;
+CREATE TRIGGER notes_vd AFTER DELETE ON notes BEGIN
+  DELETE FROM notes_vec WHERE rowid = old.rowid;
+END;
+'''
+```
+
+The delete side is an ordinary `DELETE`, not FTS5's `'delete'` command row —
+`vec0` is a normal-looking table that way.
+
+Two clauses in there are load-bearing:
+
+- **`distance_metric=cosine`.** `vec0` defaults to L2, which is not the metric
+  the rest of dirsql's semantic search uses — `vec_distance_cosine()` backs
+  both the plugin's one-liner and
+  [Search documents by meaning](./search-by-meaning.md). The two agree only for
+  vectors of equal length, so as soon as documents embed to vectors of
+  different magnitude they rank differently: against three notes, L2 returned
+  `a, c, b` where cosine returned `a, b, c`. Declaring the metric makes
+  `distance` the number `vec_distance_cosine()` would compute.
+- **`WHEN new.body IS NOT NULL`.** `embed(NULL)` is `NULL`, and `vec0` rejects
+  a NULL vector outright — so without the guard a single row whose text is
+  missing fails the **whole** table load, not just its own insert:
+
+  ```
+  dirsql query: failed to load config: SQLite error: Inserted vector for the
+  "embedding" column is invalid: Input must have type BLOB (compact format) or
+  TEXT (JSON), found NULL
+  ```
+
+  With it, that row still lands in `notes`; only its vector is skipped. FTS5
+  needs no such guard — it indexes a NULL happily.
+
+Query it with `sqlite-vec`'s KNN form, joined back on `rowid`:
+
+```bash
+uvx --with dirsql-plugin-embeddings dirsql query "
+SELECT n.slug, v.distance
+FROM notes_vec AS v JOIN notes AS n ON n.rowid = v.rowid
+WHERE v.embedding MATCH embed('how do I cook pasta?', 'minishlab/potion-retrieval-32M')
+  AND k = 3
+ORDER BY v.distance" -c ./.dirsql.toml
+```
+
+`MATCH` plus `k = 3` is what makes this a top-k scan rather than a full one —
+`vec0` uses `k`, not `LIMIT`. `distance` is supplied by the virtual table,
+closest first.
+
+**Name the same model id in the trigger and the query.** Nothing checks that
+the two agree, and vectors from different models are not comparable. If the
+models happen to share a width the mismatch is entirely silent — rankings just
+get worse. Spelling the id out in both places, rather than leaning on the
+default in either, is the cheap defence; it also puts the model in the
+[config hash](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl), so changing it rebuilds the
+index instead of mixing old vectors with new.
+
+Rows are embedded once, at ingest, and cached on disk by content and model
+([vector cache](../plugins.md#vector-cache)). A search then costs one
+`embed()` call for the query text plus an in-process scan.
+
+::: warning Editing `ddl` wedges a persisted `vec0` cache
+Under `--persist`, editing any part of a `ddl` batch whose cache holds a
+`vec0` table currently fails with `SQLite error: no such module: vec0`, and
+keeps failing until the cache is deleted (`rm -rf <root>/.dirsql`). Tracked in
+[#1008](https://github.com/thekevinscott/dirsql/issues/1008); FTS5 is
+unaffected.
+:::
+
+## What a rebuild does
+
+`ddl` runs once, when the table is created. Editing any character of it
+changes the config hash, which drops a persisted cache and re-ingests every
+file — so a new index, a different tokenizer or a changed model id all rebuild
+from scratch rather than leaving a half-migrated index behind. The full rules
+are in [Batch `ddl`](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl).
+
+## Going further
+
+- Ranked semantic search over files with no config at all —
+  [Search documents by meaning](./search-by-meaning.md).
+- Why indexes belong to declared tables and not to path-tables —
+  [how `dirsql` thinks](../explanation.md).

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31}/docs/reference/cli.md

@@ -460,3 +460,47 @@ Turn discovery off with either:
 
 A plugin that declares itself but is missing its module or its `dirsql.toml`
 fragment is a launcher error naming the package — never a silent skip.
+
+## Progress reporting
+
+Building the index over a large tree is not instant: the walk visits every
+file, then each matched file costs one `on-file` round trip plus whatever the
+table's `ddl` fires on insert. On a big corpus that is minutes. dirsql reports
+the two phases on **stderr** while they run:
+
+```
+dirsql: scanning 128413 files
+dirsql: indexing 9204/41231 files (22%)
+```
+
+Each line is rewritten in place. When a phase ends its line is erased and
+replaced by one summary of what it cost:
+
+```
+dirsql: scanned 128413 files in 4.2s
+dirsql: indexed 41231 files in 3m12s
+```
+
+stdout is untouched — it carries the query result and nothing else.
+
+By default this is **terminal-only, and only for work slow enough to wonder
+about**: a phase that finishes in under half a second prints nothing at all,
+and a run whose stderr is a pipe or a file prints nothing regardless of how
+long it takes. `dirsql "…" 2>run.log` and `dirsql "…" | jq` are byte-for-byte
+what they were before.
+
+Override with `DIRSQL_PROGRESS`:
+
+| Value | Effect |
+|---|---|
+| unset, or `auto` | Report only on a terminal, and only once a phase has run for half a second. The default. |
+| `always`, `1`, `true` | Report from the first update, terminal or not. Use it to watch a scan whose stderr is redirected. |
+| `never`, `0`, `false` | Report nothing, ever. |
+
+Values are case-insensitive and surrounding whitespace is ignored; anything
+unrecognized reads as `auto`, so a typo cannot stop a scan from running.
+
+The setting is read by the **core**, not the CLI, so it governs an index built
+from any SDK as well — a Python or TypeScript program that builds a `DirSQL`
+with a terminal attached gets the same two phases on stderr, and the same
+silence when piped.

{dirsql-0.4.29/packages/python → dirsql-0.4.31}/docs/reference/path-tables.md

@@ -190,7 +190,13 @@ That is the right trade for a hundreds-of-files, run-it-once question. When the
 same tree is queried repeatedly, or is large, declare a
 [table](/reference/config) for it instead — a declared table is indexed on
 build, kept fresh by the watcher, and (with `--persist`) survives restarts, so
-its rows are read from SQLite rather than re-walked each time.
+its rows are read from SQLite rather than re-walked each time. It is also the
+only place a keyword or vector index can live
+([templates](/howto/search-indexes)).
+
+Neither kind is the better one: each buys what the other gives up, and the
+choice is stated as one trade in
+[how `dirsql` thinks](/explanation#two-table-kinds-opposite-trade-offs).
 
 ## Skip rules
 

{dirsql-0.4.29/packages/rust → dirsql-0.4.31}/docs/reference/sdk.md

@@ -396,3 +396,22 @@ not fit that range is a hard error, not a lossy conversion: Python raises
 A TypeScript `bigint` **within** `i64` range maps to `INTEGER`. Only a real
 `bytes`/`bytearray` (Python) or `Buffer`/`Uint8Array` (TypeScript) maps to
 `BLOB` — a list/array of integers does not.
+
+## Progress on construction
+
+Constructing a `DirSQL` walks the tree and ingests every matched file, which
+on a large corpus is the slowest thing your program does. The core reports
+both phases on **stderr** while they run, then erases the live line and leaves
+one summary of what each cost:
+
+```
+dirsql: indexed 41231 files in 3m12s
+```
+
+This is terminal-only by default, and only for a phase that runs longer than
+half a second — a program whose stderr is a pipe, a file, or a log collector
+sees nothing, whatever the scan costs. Set `DIRSQL_PROGRESS=never` to
+guarantee silence even on a terminal, or `DIRSQL_PROGRESS=always` to report
+regardless. The full table is in the
+[CLI reference](cli.md#progress-reporting); the setting lives in the shared
+core, so it behaves identically from all three SDKs.

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31}/packages/python/Cargo.toml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ name = "dirsql-py-ext"
 # pypi/maturin handler can rewrite it via `write-version` before
 # `maturin build`. `pyproject.toml` declares `dynamic = ["version"]`
 # and maturin reads this field. Mirrors `packages/rust/Cargo.toml`.
-version = "0.4.29"
+version = "0.4.31"
 # abi3 note: the `abi3-py310` pyo3 feature (below) builds ONE stable-ABI
 # `cp310-abi3` wheel per platform that loads on every CPython >= 3.10
 # (matching `pyproject.toml`'s `requires-python = ">=3.10"`), instead of

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31}/packages/python/docs/.vitepress/config.ts

@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
             { text: 'Parse your files into columns', link: '/howto/parse-files-into-columns' },
             { text: 'Query JSON file contents', link: '/howto/query-json' },
             { text: 'Search documents by meaning', link: '/howto/search-by-meaning' },
+            { text: 'Add a search index to a table', link: '/howto/search-indexes' },
             { text: "Skip files you don't want indexed", link: '/howto/skip-files' },
             { text: 'Load a SQLite extension', link: '/howto/load-extension' },
             { text: 'Keep the index across restarts', link: '/howto/persist' },

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31}/packages/python/docs/howto/define-tables.md

@@ -107,7 +107,9 @@ maintain nothing. `name` still has to be the row table (`posts`); the virtual
 table lives beside it under its own name. The batch runs once, when the table
 is created, and editing any part of it rebuilds a
 [persistent cache](./persist.md) from scratch. Full rules:
-[Batch `ddl`](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl).
+[Batch `ddl`](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl); pasteable FTS5 and vector
+templates, with the trigger mistakes that fail silently, are in
+[Add a search index to a table](./search-indexes.md).
 
 ## Going further
 

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31/packages/python}/docs/howto/query-without-config.md

@@ -55,7 +55,9 @@ question over a few hundred files, wasteful for a large tree you query
 repeatedly. When that day comes, [declare a table](./define-tables.md): it is
 indexed once, kept fresh by the watcher, and can persist across restarts. The
 zero-config query is the floor; a named table is the escalation path — nothing
-you write here has to be thrown away to get there.
+you write here has to be thrown away to get there. The two sides in full, and
+why indexes belong to only one of them, are in
+[how `dirsql` thinks](../explanation.md#two-table-kinds-opposite-trade-offs).
 
 ## Notes
 

{dirsql-0.4.29 → dirsql-0.4.31/packages/python}/docs/howto/search-by-meaning.md

@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 Ask a question in plain language and get the closest documents back — even
 when they share no keywords with it. Install
 [`dirsql-plugin-embeddings`](../plugins.md#dirsql-plugin-embeddings) and
-semantic search becomes plain SQL: the plugin's `embed()` function turns
-text into vectors, [`sqlite-vec`](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec)'s
-`vec_distance_cosine()` measures distance, and `ORDER BY … LIMIT` does the
-ranking. No config, no API keys, no services — the model runs locally.
+semantic search becomes plain SQL: the plugin's `embed()` function turns text
+into vectors and loads [`sqlite-vec`](https://github.com/asg017/sqlite-vec),
+which does the distance math. No API keys, no services — the model runs
+locally.
 
 Suppose short notes live in `notes/*.md`:
 
@@ -40,7 +40,32 @@ The first-ever run downloads the model (on the order of a hundred megabytes,
 with progress on stderr); after that it loads from the local cache. Results
 print one `path<TAB>distance` line per match, closest first.
 
-## The SQL behind it
+## Which shape
+
+The one-liner embeds every matched file on every run. That is the right trade
+for a question you ask once, and the wrong one for a corpus you search
+repeatedly — where a stored [`vec0` index](./search-indexes.md#vector-search-vec0)
+embeds each file once, at ingest, and a query embeds only the question:
+
+| | This page: path-table | [Vector index](./search-indexes.md#vector-search-vec0) |
+|---|---|---|
+| Setup | none | a `[[table]]` with a `ddl` batch |
+| Freshness | always current — the walk is the read | watcher-maintained; survives restarts under [`--persist`](./persist.md) |
+| Per query | one `embed()` round trip **per matched file**, plus a walk that reads every file's content | one `embed()` round trip **total**, plus an in-process KNN scan |
+| Top-k | `ORDER BY … LIMIT k` | `MATCH … AND k = …` |
+| Good for | a one-off question, a small corpus, an ad-hoc glob | a corpus you query repeatedly |
+
+The index only pays off when the table outlives the query — under `--persist`,
+or inside a long-running [`dirsql server`](../reference/cli.md). A one-shot
+`dirsql query` against an ephemeral index rebuilds the table, and therefore
+re-embeds the corpus, before it answers; that is strictly more work than the
+subquery below. The full recipe — the width probe, the `ddl` batch, both
+triggers, and what a model-id edit costs — is
+[Add a search index to a table](./search-indexes.md#vector-search-vec0).
+
+The rest of this page is the zero-setup shape.
+
+## The SQL behind the one-liner
 
 The one-liner generates and runs ordinary `dirsql` SQL, and you can write it
 yourself when you want more than ranked paths — a different projection, a
@@ -79,7 +104,9 @@ Reading the query inside-out:
    and its distance are NULL too — and SQLite sorts NULLs *first* ascending,
    so without this line the unrankable files take the top-k slots.
 4. `vec_distance_cosine(...)` computes cosine distance between the two
-   vectors; `ORDER BY distance LIMIT 3` keeps the three nearest.
+   vectors; `ORDER BY distance LIMIT 3` keeps the three nearest. There is no
+   `vec0` table here, so `sqlite-vec`'s `MATCH … AND k = …` does not apply —
+   for a plain expression, `ORDER BY … LIMIT k` *is* its documented top-k.
 
 Structured files compose with SQL's JSON operators — embed one field instead
 of the whole file:
@@ -93,24 +120,19 @@ ORDER BY vec_distance_cosine(emb, embed('local private models'))
 LIMIT 10
 ```
 
-::: tip Top-k is `LIMIT k`
-If you know `sqlite-vec` you may reach for its `MATCH … AND k = 10` idiom.
-That syntax belongs to `sqlite-vec`'s `vec0` virtual table, which the table
-above does not use: a `[[table]]`'s own `name` is always a per-file row table.
-For plain expressions, `sqlite-vec`'s own documented pattern is exactly what
-this guide uses: `ORDER BY vec_distance_cosine(...) LIMIT k`. To get the `vec0`
-idiom instead, declare the `vec0` table alongside the row table in the same
-[`ddl` batch](../reference/config.md#batch-ddl) and fill it from a trigger.
-:::
+The same projection works as an `on-file` hook feeding the indexed shape:
+parse the field in the hook, store it as a column, and the trigger embeds it
+once instead of on every query.
 
 ## Repeat runs are cheap
 
 Computed vectors are cached on disk, keyed on content and model
 ([vector cache](../plugins.md#vector-cache)) — re-running a search over
-unchanged files skips the model entirely and re-embeds only what changed.
-And the plugin costs nothing when idle: a query that never calls `embed()`
-spawns no worker and loads no model
-([zero cost when unused](../plugins.md#zero-cost-when-unused)).
+unchanged files skips the model entirely and re-embeds only what changed. That
+takes the *inference* out of the shape above, but not the walk or the per-file
+round trip; only a stored index removes those. And the plugin costs nothing
+when idle: a query that never calls `embed()` spawns no worker and loads no
+model ([zero cost when unused](../plugins.md#zero-cost-when-unused)).
 
 ## How `embed()` gets into SQL