Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Welcome to the Annie FAQ! Use your browser's search (Ctrl+F) to quickly find answers. Questions are grouped by category for easy navigation.

General

• What is Annie?
• Annie is a fast Approximate Nearest Neighbors (ANN) library written in Rust with Python bindings.
• Who maintains Annie?
• Annie is maintained by the Programmers-Paradise community.

Installation & Setup

• How do I install Annie?
• See the installation guide or run pip install rust-annie.
• I get a 'No module named rust_annie' error.
• Ensure you installed the package in the correct Python environment and that your Python version is supported.
• Which Python versions are supported?
• See the compatibility matrix.

Troubleshooting

• Build fails with 'cargo' or 'maturin' errors.
• Ensure Rust and maturin are installed. See troubleshooting.
• Documentation site won't build.
• Make sure all requirements in requirements.txt are installed.

Performance & Tuning

• How can I speed up indexing/search?
• Use batch operations and tune index parameters. See performance FAQ.
• How much memory does Annie use?
• See resource usage.

Error Messages

• 'Index shape mismatch' error.
• Check that your data shape matches the index dimensions.
• 'Out of memory' error.
• Reduce batch size or use a machine with more RAM.

Migration

• How do I migrate from Faiss/Annoy/HNSW?

• See migration guide below.

• See migration guide.

Compatibility Matrix

OS	Python 3.8	Python 3.9	Python 3.10	Python 3.11
Linux	✓	✓	✓	✓
macOS (x86)	✓	✓	✓	✓
macOS (M1)	✓	✓	✓	✓
Windows	✓	✓	✓	✓

Memory and Resource Usage

• Annie is optimized for low memory usage, but large datasets require more RAM. Monitor usage and adjust batch sizes as needed.

Issue Template Integration

• When opening an issue, please check the FAQ for solutions. The issue template will prompt you to confirm this.

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For more troubleshooting, see troubleshooting.md.