Dense vector data type

A dense_vector field stores dense vectors of float values. The maximum number of dimensions that can be in a vector should not exceed 2048. A dense_vector field is a single-valued field.

These vectors can be used for document scoring. For example, a document score can represent a distance between a given query vector and the indexed document vector.

You index a dense vector as an array of floats.

PUT my-index-000001
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "my_vector": {
        "type": "dense_vector",
        "dims": 3  
      },
      "my_text" : {
        "type" : "keyword"
      }
    }
  }
}

PUT my-index-000001/_doc/1
{
  "my_text" : "text1",
  "my_vector" : [0.5, 10, 6]
}

PUT my-index-000001/_doc/2
{
  "my_text" : "text2",
  "my_vector" : [-0.5, 10, 10]
}

Internally, each document’s dense vector is encoded as a binary doc value. Its size in bytes is equal to 4 * dims + 4, where dims—the number of the vector’s dimensions.