In this article

Overview

You can use this Snap to perform advanced vector-based queries using the SELECT statement.

Snap Type

The PostgreSQL - Vector Search Snap is a Read-type Snap.

Prerequisites

A valid account with the required permissions.

Support for Ultra Pipelines

Works in Ultra Pipelines.

Limitations and Known Issues

None.

Snap Views

Type

Format

Number of Views

Examples of Upstream and Downstream Snaps

Description

Input

Document

Min: 1
Max: 1

Mapper
Copy

Requires an input vector with the same dimension as the selected vector column.
Requires a vector input with an array of float/int data types.

Output

Document

Min: 1
Max: 1

Mapper
Copy

For each input document, all results are grouped into a single output document.

Error

Error handling is a generic way to handle errors without losing data or failing the Snap execution. You can handle the errors that the Snap might encounter when running the pipeline by choosing one of the following options from the When errors occur list under the Views tab:

Stop Pipeline Execution: Stops the current pipeline execution if the Snap encounters an error.
Discard Error Data and Continue: Ignores the error, discards that record, and continues with the remaining records.
Route Error Data to Error View: Routes the error data to an error view without stopping the Snap execution.

Learn more about Error handling in Pipelines.

Snap Settings

Asterisk ( * ): Indicates a mandatory field.
Suggestion icon (): Indicates a list that is dynamically populated based on the configuration.
Expression icon ( ): Indicates the value is an expression (if enabled) or a static value (if disabled). Learn more about Using Expressions in SnapLogic.
Add icon ( ): Indicates that you can add fields in the fieldset.
Remove icon ( ): Indicates that you can remove fields from the fieldset.
Upload icon ( ): Indicates that you can upload files.

Field Name	Field Type	Description
Label* Default Value: PostgreSQL Vector Search Example: PostgreSQL VS	String	Specify a name for the Snap. You can modify this to be more specific, especially if you have more than one of the same Snap in your pipeline.
Schema name Default Value: N/A Example: VECTOR_DEMO	String/Expression/Suggestion	Specify the schema name for searching for a vector.
Table Name* Default Value: N/A Example: VECTOR_DEMO.BOOKS	String/Expression/Suggestion	Specify the table name for searching for a vector.
Vector Column* Default Value: N/A Example: INT_VEC	String/Expression/Suggestion	Specify the vector column name to search.
Where Clause Default Value: N/A Example: ID > '001i0000007FVjpAAG'	String/Expression/Suggestion	Specify the where clause to use in the vector search query statement. Because of the limitation of SQL standard, you cannot use the `_SL_DISTANCE` column in the where clause.
Limit Rows Default Value: 4 Example: 3 Min Value: 1	Integer/Expression	Specify the number of rows the query must return.
Distance Function* Default Value: L2 Example: COSINE	Dropdown List	Choose the similarity function to compare vectors. The available options are: L2: (Euclidean Distance) Measures the straight-line distance between two points. It’s useful when you want to calculate the "as-the-crow-flies" distance. L1: (Manhattan Distance) Measures the distance between two points along the axes at right angles. It’s useful in grid-based systems, like city streets. COSINE: Measures the cosine of the angle between two vectors. It is commonly used in high-dimensional positive spaces to assess similarity irrespective of magnitude. Inner Product: (Dot Product) Measures the similarity between two vectors. It’s useful in various applications, such as calculating the angle between vectors or finding projections. Learn more about the Vector Similarity Functions.
Include vector values Default Value: Deselected	Checkbox/Expression	Select this checkbox to include vector values in the response. This field does not support input schema from the upstream Snaps.
Include scores Default Value: Selected	Checkbox/Expression	Select this checkbox to include similarity scores in the response. This field does not support input schema from the upstream Snaps. When you select this checkbox, the output preview displays `_SL_DISTANCE`, which is the distance between the input vector and vectors in the database.
Ignore empty result Default Value: Deselected	Checkbox	Select this checkbox to ignore the empty results and not write a document to the output view when a search operation does not return any results.
Number of retries Default Value: 0 Example: 3	Integer/Expression	Specify the maximum number of retry attempts the Snap must make in case of network failure.
Retry interval (seconds) Default Value: 0 Example: 3	Integer/Expression	Specify the time interval between two successive retry requests.
Snap execution Default Value: Validate & Execute Example: Execute only	Dropdown list	Select one of the following three modes in which the Snap executes: Validate & Execute: Performs limited execution of the Snap and generates a data preview during pipeline validation. Subsequently, performs full execution of the Snap (unlimited records) during pipeline runtime. Execute only: Performs full execution of the Snap during Pipeline execution without generating preview data. Disabled: Disables the Snap and all Snaps that are downstream from it.

Example

Find Similar Vectors Using Cosine Distance

The example pipeline below demonstrates how to use the PostgreSQL - Vector Search Snap to find similar vectors using the Cosine distance function.

Step 1: Configure the Mapper Snap with a vector to find similar vectors in the PostgreSQL database.

Step 2: Configure the PostgreSQL - Vector Search Snap as shown below:

Step 3: Validate the pipeline. On validation, the Snap fetches similar vectors based on the following criteria:

The match vectors have cosine similarity distances, indicating their similarity to the input vector.
The cosine similarity distances measure how close the match vectors are to the input vector, with values closer to 0 indicating higher similarity.
The first match has the highest similarity (lowest distance), followed by the 2^nd match.

Snap Pack History

Click to view/expand

Release	Snap Pack Version	Date	Type	Updates
August 2024	main27765	21 Aug 2024	Stable	Updated and certified against the current Snaplogic Platform release.
May 2024	437patches27531	07 Aug 2024	Latest	Enhanced the Postgres Account and Postgres Dynamic Account with support for IAM and Cross-account IAM role authentication.
May 2024	437patches27416	29 Jul 2024	Latest	Fixed an issue with the PostgreSQL—Insert Snap that exposed sensitive information in the error message when the batch operation was not successful. Fixed an issue with the PostgreSQL—Bulk Load Snap that caused incorrect or invalid binary data to be inserted when the column was of `Binary` type.
May 2024	437patches27172	10 Jul 2024	Latest	Added the PostgreSQL - Vector Search Snap to enable advanced vector-based queries using the SELECT statement. Added vector data type support for PostgreSQL - Insert and PostgreSQL - Update Snaps. Upgraded the PostgreSQL JDBC driver from v9.4.1207 to v42.7.2 (Java 8). This upgrade will be part of the GA release on August 14, 2024 (Stable release). As part of this upgrade, the 42.7.2 JDBC driver is bundled with the PostgreSQL Snap Pack as the default JDBC driver. Your existing PostgreSQL pipelines that use the default driver (bundled with the PostgreSQL Snap Pack) might break. Behavior change: This driver upgrade has resulted in specific behavior changes in errors, status codes, and success and failure messages. Learn more.
May 2024	437patches26634	10 Jun 2024	Latest	Fixed an issue with PostgreSQL - Execute Snap that produced logs causing node crashes.
May 2024	4postgresupgrade26570	30 May 2024	-	Upgraded the PostgreSQL JDBC driver from v9.4.1207 to v42.7.2 (Java 8). This upgrade will be part of the latest release on July 10,2024 and Stable release (GA) on August 14, 2024. As part of this upgrade, the 42.7.2 JDBC driver is bundled with the PostgreSQL Snap Pack as the default JDBC driver. Your existing PostgreSQL pipelines that use the default driver (bundled with the PostgreSQL Snap Pack) might break. Behavior change: This JDBC driver upgrade has resulted in specific behavior changes in errors, status codes, and success and failure messages. Learn more.
May 2024	main26341	08 May 2024	Stable	Updated the Delete Condition (Truncates a Table if empty) field in the PostgreSQL - Delete Snap to Delete condition (deletes all records from a table if left blank) to indicate that all entries will be deleted from the table when this field is blank, but no truncate operation is performed.
February 2024	main25112	14 Feb 2024	Stable	Updated and certified against the current SnapLogic Platform release.
November 2023	435patches23831	16 Nov 2023	Latest	Fixed an issue with the PostgreSQL-Execute and PostgreSQL-Select Snaps that added escape characters ('\\') in the output for JSONB datatype.
November 2023	main23721	08 Nov 2023	Stable	Updated and certified against the current SnapLogic Platform release.
August 2023	main22460	16 Aug 2023	Stable	The PostgreSQL - Execute Snap now includes a new Query type field. When Auto is selected, the Snap tries to determine the query type automatically.
May 2023	433patches21298	05 Jun 2023	Latest	Fixed an issue with the PostgreSQL Insert Snap that inconsistently inserted some columns and missed the remaining columns(especially the Time fields), when the data was passed in the JSON format from an upstream Snap.
May 2023	main21015	10 May 2023	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
February 2023	432patches20409	05 Apr 2023	Latest	The PostgreSQL - Bulk Load and PostgreSQL - Insert Snaps no longer fail with the message `ERROR: type modifier is not allowed for type 'bytea'` when creating a new table if Create table if not present is selected and the target table does not exist. This issue occurred when metadata from the second input view document contained columns of the `bytea` data type.
February 2023	main19844	09 Feb 2023	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
November 2022	431patches19454	12 Jan 2023	Latest	The PostgreSQL Snap Pack supports geospatial data types.
November 2022	main18944	10 Nov 2022	Stable	The PostgreSQL - Bulk Load Snap can now process records with more than 16 KB in the document without encountering the `BufferOverflowException` because the default value of 16 KB for byte buffer size is now removed. The PostgreSQL - Insert Snap now creates the target table only from the table metadata of the second input view when the following conditions are met: The Create table if not present checkbox is selected. The target table does not exist. The table metadata is provided in the second input view.
September 2022	430patches18149	30 Sep 2022	Latest	The PostgreSQL Select and PostgresSQL Execute Snaps now read NaN values in Numeric columns when used with a PostgreSQL Account configured with the latest `postgresql-42.5.0.jar` driver.
September 2022	430patches17894	15 Sep 2022	Latest	The PostgreSQL Select Snap now works as expected when the table name is dependent on an upstream input.
August 2022	430patches17700	01 Sep 2022	Latest	The PostgreSQL - Bulk Load Snap can now process the records with more than 16KB in the document without encountering `BufferOverflowException` because the default value of 16KB for byte buffer size is now removed.
August 2022	main17386	11 Aug 2022	Stable	Enhanced the PostgreSQL Account and PostgreSQL Dynamic Account with SSH Tunneling configurations to encrypt the network connection between the client and the PostgreSQL Database server, thereby ensuring the secure network connection.
4.29 Patch	429patches17036	21 Jul 2022	Latest	Enhanced the PostgreSQL Account and PostgreSQL Dynamic Account with SSH Tunneling configurations to encrypt the network connection between the client and the PostgreSQL Database server, thereby ensuring a secure network connection.
4.29	main15993	14 May 2022	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.28	main14627	12 Feb 2022	Stable	Updated the label for Delete Condition to Delete Condition (Truncates Table if empty) in the PostgreSQL Delete Snap.
4.27 Patch	427patches13149	06 Jan 2022	Latest	Fixed an issue with PostgreSQL - Execute Snap, where the Snap failed when using Delete query with the RETURNING function.
4.27	main12833	13 Nov 2021	Stable	Enhanced the PostgreSQL - Execute Snap to invoke stored procedures.
4.26	main11181	14 Aug 2021	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.25 Patch	425patches9879	03 Jun 2021	Latest	Enhanced the performance of PostgreSQL - Bulk Load Snap significantly. SnapLogic anticipates that the Snap will execute up to 3 times faster than the previous version for enterprise workloads.
4.25	main9554	08 May 2021	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.24	main8556	13 Feb 2021	Stable	Enhanced the PostgreSQL - Select Snap to return only the selected output fields or columns in the output schema (second output view) using the Fetch Output Fields In Schema check box. If the Output Fields field is empty all the columns are visible.
4.23	main7430	14 Nov 2020	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.22 Patch	422patches6879	07 Oct 2020	Latest	Fixed the PostgreSQL - Bulk Load Snap by preventing it from adding extra double quotes when loading values from input documents.
4.22	main6403	12 Sep 2020	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.21 Patch	421patches6272	27 Jul 2020	Latest	Fixed the issue where Snowflake SCD2 Snap generates two output documents despite no changes to Cause-historization fields with DATE, TIME and TIMESTAMP Snowflake data types, and with Ignore unchanged rows field selected.
4.21 Patch	421patches6144	20 Jul 2020	Latest	Fixed the following issues with DB Snaps: The connection thread waits indefinitely causing the subsequent connection requests to become unresponsive. Connection leaks occur during Pipeline execution.
4.21 Patch	MULTIPLE8841	19 May 2020	Latest	Fixed the connection issue in Database Snaps by detecting and closing open connections after the Snap execution ends.
4.21	snapsmrc542	09 May 2020	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.20	snapsmrc535	08 Feb 2020	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.19 Patch	db/postgres8409	13 Dec 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with the PostgreSQL - Update Snap wherein the Snap is unable to perform operations when: An expression is used in the Update condition property. Input data contain the character '?'.
4.19	snaprsmrc528	14 Nov 2019	Stable	Added new Snap PostgresSQL Bulk Load.
4.18 Patch	postgres8021	10 Oct 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with the PostgreSQL grammar to better handle the single quote characters.
4.18	snapsmrc523	10 Aug 2019	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.17 Patch	db/postgres7588	16 Jul 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with tables sharing an overlapping column name wherein Pipeline execution fails due to the table collision.
4.17	ALL7402	11 Jun 2019	Latest	Pushed automatic rebuild of the latest version of each Snap Pack to SnapLogic UAT and Elastic servers.
4.17	snapsmrc515	11 Jun 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with the PostgreSQL Execute Snap wherein the Snap would send the input document to the output view even if the Pass through field is not selected in the Snap configuration. With this fix, the Snap sends the input document to the output view, under the key original, only if you select the Pass through field. Added the Snap Execution field to all Standard-mode Snaps. In some Snaps, this field replaces the existing Execute during preview check box.
4.16 Patch	db/postgres6822	22 Feb 2019	Latest	Fixed an issue with the Lookup Snap passing data simultaneously to output and error views when some values contained spaces at the end.
4.16	snapsmrc508	16 Feb 2019	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.15 Patch	db/postgres6333	05 Dec 2018	Latest	Replaced Max idle time and Idle connection test period properties with Max life time and Idle Timeout properties respectively, in the Account configuration. The new properties fix the connection release issues that were occurring due to default/restricted DB Account settings.
4.15	snapsmrc500	15 Dec 2018	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.14	snapsmrc490	11 Aug 2018	Stable	Added support for Amazon Aurora and Azure SQL DB.
4.13	snapsmrc486	12 May 2018	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.12 Patch	MULTIPLE4967	05 Apr 2018	Latest	Provided an interim fix for an issue with the PostgreSQL 10 accounts by re-registering the driver for each account validation. The final fix is being shipped in a separate build.
4.12 Patch	postgres4832	12 Mar 2018	Latest	Updated the driver from version 8.4.704 to version 9.4.1207 to support PostgreSQL v10 servers.
4.12	snapsmrc480	17 Feb 2018	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.11 Patch	db/postgres4290	18 Nov 2017	Latest	PostgreSQL Snap Pack - Fixed an issue when inserting a valid NaN value into a column.
4.11	snapsmrc465	11 Nov 2017	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.10 Patch	postgres3773	25 Aug 2017	Latest	Previously the Postgres PGObject datatype could not be serialized. It is now handled as a String.
4.10	snapsmrc414	12 Aug 2017	Stable	Added Auto commit property to the Select and Execute Snaps at the Snap level to support overriding of the Auto commit property at the Account level.
4.9.0 Patch	postgres3134	28 Jun 2017	Latest	PostgreSQL Execute: New Snap advanced property Auto commit has been implemented to fix the Select query error in PostgreSQL replica servers.
4.9 Patch	postgres3072	01 Jun 2017	Latest	Fixed an issue regarding connection not closed after login failure; Expose autocommit for "Select into" statement in PostgreSQL Execute Snap and Redshift Execute Snap.
4.9	snapsmrc405	13 May 2017	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.8.0 Patch	postgres2757	27 Mar 2017	Latest	Potential fix for JDBC deadlock issue.
4.8.0 Patch	postgres2712	01 Mar 2017	Latest	Fixed PostgreSQL Snap Pack rendering dates that are one hour off from the date returned by database query for non-UTC Snaplexes.
4.8.0 Patch	postgres2696	22 Feb 2017	Latest	Addressed an issue where some changes made in the platform patch MRC294 to improve perfomance caused Snaps in the listed Snap Packs to fail.
4.8	snapsmrc398	11 Feb 2017	Stable	Info tab added to accounts. Database accounts now invalidate connection pools if account properties are modified and login attempts fail.
4.7.0 Patch	postgres2192	28 Nov 2016	Latest	Fixed an issue for database Select Snaps regarding Limit rows not supporting an empty string from a pipeline parameter.
4.7.0 Patch	postgres2185	21 Nov 2016	Latest	Resolved an issue with the PostgreSQL Execute Snap failing with a “java.util.regex.Pattern” error.
4.7	snapsmrc382	23 Nov 2016	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.6	snapsmrc362	13 Aug 2016	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.5.1	postgres1584	18 May 2016	Stable	Resolved an issue in the PostgreSQL - Execute Snap that resulted from restrictions on the 'with' operator in conjunction with an 'insert' statement. Resolved an issue in the PostgreSQL Snaps that resulting from restrictions on the 'with' operator in conjunction with the RECURSIVE keyword.
4.4.1	NA	18 Mar 2016	Stable	Upgraded with the latest SnapLogic Platform release.
4.4	NA	13 Feb 2016	Stable	Resolved an issue with PostgreSQL Select Snap not parsing JSON data type correctly. Note: The fix for this issue required updating libraries that impacted all database Snaps except those for MongoDB.
4.3.2	NA	15 Jan 2016	Stable	This Snap Pack is now compatible with the PostgreSQL drivers available in 4.3 Patch mrc222.
NA	NA	27 Jun 2015	Stable	PostgreSQL Insert Snap: resolved an issue where it inserts a negative value when the input data was out of range. PostgreSQL Snaps did not properly handle when a table name was created in mixed case. JSON paths in WHERE clauses should be processed as bind values after the expression is evaluated.
NA	NA	06 Jun 2015	Stable	A - otd:6828 Postgres Snap shows wrong data type in preview for timestamp withtime zone data type Dynamic DB queries now supported in the Execute Snap. The SQL statement property now can be set as an expression property. When it is an expression, it will be evaluated with each input document and one SQL statement per each input document will be executed. Known issue: When the SQL statement property is an expression, the pipeline parameters are shown in the suggest, but not the input schema. With the SQL statement property set as an expression, the Snap can be exposed to SQL injection. Please use this feature with caution.
NA	NA	02 May 2015	Stable	PostgreSQL Insert: Enhanced data type support. PostgreSQL Lookup: bug fixes on lookup failures; Pass-though on no lookup match property added to allow you to pass the input document through to the output view when there is no lookup matching. PostgreSQL Select Snap: added support for handling array types.

WIP: PostgreSQL - Vector Search