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Architecture / Distributed multimodal database

Four data models.
See how they connect.

SQL, vector, graph and full-text in one engine. Follow a record from your application to its indexes, query results and deployment.

Build your first workflow Explore the database

Inside the system

Follow a write. Trace a read.

Switch views to see where each responsibility lives.

Follow the data Illustrative architecture
Your application

An article, ready to index.

Prepare fields, an embedding and searchable text.

article:07
Separate authenticated requests
OriginChainDB engineSame tenant · shared record ID
Row write
id: article:07
title: Battery guide
author: person:03
SQL + Graph

Fields and declared relations

Vector put
id: article:07
vector: [0.2, 0.8, …]You supply the embedding
Vector index

Embedding and metadata

Full-text index
id: article:07
text: Replace the battery…Choose fields to search
Full-text index

Terms and document references

A row write does not also submit its embedding or text. Your application coordinates these calls and their retries.

Three views of the system, with the application and engine responsibilities shown separately.

The query layer

Use the model that fits the question.

A shared record ID connects the representations. Each query interface serves a different kind of question.

01 / SQL

Find and shape records.

Filter fields, join related tables and aggregate results. Start with a registered schema and declared indexes.

Which articles are published?SQL quickstart
02 / Vector

Search by similarity.

Store embeddings from your chosen model. Query nearest neighbors with the same dimensions and apply metadata filters.

Which articles are similar?Vector quickstart
03 / Graph

Follow connections.

Declare relations and traverse neighbors or paths. Use relationships to explore the context around a record.

Who wrote this article?Graph quickstart
04 / Full-text

Find the right words.

Index selected text fields and query words or phrases. BM25 ranking provides scored document matches.

Where is “battery replacement”?Full-text walkthrough

The write path

One ID.
Separate, deliberate writes.

For the native APIs, saving a row does not also create its embedding or full-text entry.

See the three-call example
  1. 1

    Define the record

    Register fields, a primary key and relations. Use that record ID in each index entry.

  2. 2

    Prepare the other representations

    Your application generates embeddings and chooses searchable text. Submit these through their own endpoints.

  3. 3

    Keep updates coordinated

    Track which calls succeeded. Retry failed requests and update or remove related entries when source data changes.

Retrieval

Combine evidence.
Keep the source.

For a search or RAG workflow, query vector and full-text indexes separately, merge rankings in your application, then fetch source records by ID.

Vector hybrid search combines dense and sparse vectors. Combining vector results with BM25 is a separate application workflow.

Build a retrieval workflow

Deployment

Choose how your database runs.

A dedicated deployment can pair a writer with a standby in the same region.

Writer + optional standby

Replication is asynchronous.

The writer streams committed changes to a standby. Recent writes may be missing after an abrupt writer loss; promotion is operator-driven by default.

The standby follows the writer; backups provide a separate path to restore data.

Explore deployment options
Scaling across nodesQuery support across nodes

See how the topology affects queries and transactions.

Multiple regionsActive-active development

Follow the published status and scope of cross-region writes.

Operations

Plan for the next write.
And the next recovery.

Monitor the writer, observe replication and practice restore. Each gives you a different view of database health.

01

Understand acknowledgments

Learn what a successful write means on the primary, with endpoint-specific behavior in the durability guide.

Write durability
02

Restore from backups

Restore from snapshots and available archives. The guide covers recovery points and current preview limitations.

Backup and restore
03

Observe the system

Follow health, usage, write errors and replication lag. Use the operations guide to connect monitoring and incident response.

Operations guide

Start building

Start with a record.
Add the queries you need.

Open the quickstart Read the API reference