hnsw

Library Listed Dormant

Fast approximate nearest neighbors

Checked · Sources

Downloads
15,542
Dependents
13
Stars
268
Forks
22
Contributors
6
Commits
157
Latest release
0.11.0 ·

About

From the project README ·

Hierarchical Navigable Small World Graph for fast ANN search

Enable the serde feature to serialize and deserialize HNSW.

Tips

A good default for M and M0 parameters is 12 and 24 respectively. According to the paper, M0 should always be double M, but you can change both of them freely.

Example

To see how this might be used with hamming space, see tests/simple_discrete.rs. To see how this might be used with euclidean space, see tests/simple.rs.

Note that the euclidean implementation in the test may have some numerical errors and fail to implement the triangle inequality, especially on high dimensionality. Use a Kahan sum instead for proper usage. It also may not utilize SIMD, but using an array may help with that.

Please refer to the space documentation for the trait and types regarding distance. It also contains special Bits128 - Bits4096 tuple structs that wrap an array of bytes and enable SIMD capability. Benchmarks provided use these SIMD impls.

Benchmarks

Here is a recall graph that you can compare to its alternatives:

For more benchmarks and how to benchmark, see benchmarks.md.

Read the full README

Implementation

This is based on the paper "Efficient and robust approximate nearest neighbor search using Hierarchical Navigable Small World graphs" by Yu. A. Malkov and D. A. Yashunin. This paper builds on the original paper for NSW. There are multiple papers written by the authors on NSW, which preceeded HNSW.

For more details about parameters and details of the implementation, see implementation.md.

Credit

This is in no way a direct copy or reimplementation of the original implementation. This was made purely based on the paper without reference to the original headers. The paper is very well written and easy to understand, with some minor exceptions. Thank you to the authors for your valuable contribution.

Questions? Contributions? Excited?

Please visit the Rust CV Discord.

Runs on
GPU support unknown
What shows it
  • no dependency or feature matches a backend row
Native code
None found
  • No native code found
Python bindings
No Python binding crate found
License
MIT

Compare with similar projects

Order: strongest tier first, then most downloads, then name, with unmeasured values last. A library counts downloads over 30 days. An app counts binary downloads per release. An app with none counts its crate downloads over 30 days. ML Rust runs this catalogue, so its closest project always gets a row.

hnsw beside the projects that share a topic with it
ProjectDownloadsDependentsStarsLatest releaseRuns on (GPU)Native codeLicense
hnsw This page Listed Dormant

Fast approximate nearest neighbors

15,542 downloads over 30 days 13 268 0.11.0 GPU support unknown No native code found MIT
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Python bindings

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96,520 downloads over 30 days 36 343 0.6.1 GPU support unknown No native code found Apache-2.0 OR MIT
Why ListedNo archive, New or Featured rule places it, so it is Listed.

What it lacks for Featured

  • It has 7 active dependents and 6 new dependents in 365 days. Featured needs 11 active dependents or 9 new dependents in 365 days. The repository route reads 268 stars, 22 forks and 6 contributors. It needs 4,539 stars, 434 forks and 79 contributors together.
  • The project is dormant and not finished. Dormancy rule

What else the check found

  • The last activity is on 4 Aug 2025, 462 days ago. That reaches the 365 days the rules expect, so the project is dormant. Dormancy rule
  • The oldest outside issue waits 1671 days for a reply, past the limit of 270. No maintainer replied in 365 days. Rot signals rule

Not measured: Latest release fails cargo check.

Exact rules: Listed, Featured library. The check on applied thresholds version 9.

Every rule outcome, as the check records it
  • expected-interval: version 0.11.0 base 140, raised to the 365-day floor: E = 365 days
  • dormancy: last activity 2025-08-04, 462 days ago, E = 365: dormant
  • rot: oldest unanswered issue 1671 days (limit 270), no maintainer reply in 365 days
  • featured: not featured: active_users 7 < 11 and new_adopters 6 < 9 and repository route stars 268 (needs 4539), forks 22 (needs 434), contributors 6 (needs 79); dormant and not stable
  • listed: listed: no archive, new or featured rule applies

Measurements and sources

Each signal row shows the raw value, its source and the fetch date. The Sources list gathers every distinct source on this page. Movement needs more history.

Sources6 sources
Adoption7 active dependents, 6 new dependents in 365 days1 not measured
Adoption measurements
SignalValueSourceFetchedCounts
Active dependents7crates.io database dumpYes
New dependents (365 days)6crates.io database dumpYes
Peak active dependents10crates.io database dumpYes
Active dependents as a share of the peak0.95crates.io database dumpYes
Binary downloads per releaseNot measuredYes
MaintenanceLatest human commit: 15 months ago3 not measured
Maintenance measurements
SignalValueSourceFetchedCounts
Latest human commit2025-08-04GitHub repositoryYes
Latest release2021-07-19crates.io database dumpYes
First release2019-08-13crates.io database dumpYes
Latest version0.11.0crates.io database dumpYes
Days the oldest outside issue waits for a reply1671GitHub repositoryYes
Maintainer replies over 365 days0GitHub repositoryYes
Repository archivedfalseGitHub repositoryYes
Repository gonefalseGitHub repositoryYes
Release commit or manifest in the repotruecrates.io packageYes
Published docstruecrates.io database dumpYes
Latest release fails cargo checkNot measuredYes
Build check dateNot measuredYes
Build check toolchainNot measuredYes
SecurityUnpatched vulnerabilities: none
Security measurements
SignalValueSourceFetchedCounts
Unpatched vulnerabilities past the grace windownoneRustSec advisory databaseYes
RustSec unmaintained advisorynoneRustSec advisory databaseYes
Deprecation noticenonecrates.io database dumpYes
Deprecated requirementnonecrates.io database dumpYes
Distribution21 releases, 15,542 downloads over 30 days5 not measured
Distribution measurements
SignalValueSourceFetchedCounts
Releases21crates.io database dumpYes
Downloads over 30 days15542crates.io database dumpYes
Binary downloads over the last 3 releasesNot measuredYes
Homebrew installs on request over 365 daysNot measuredYes
Repology repository familiesNot measuredYes
Docker pull growth over 90 daysNot measuredYes
Docker pulls at the growth baselineNot measuredYes
Every version a prereleasefalsecrates.io database dumpYes
Every version 0.0.xfalsecrates.io database dumpYes
Every version yankedfalsecrates.io database dumpYes
Crate deleted from crates.iofalsecrates.io database dumpYes
Repository268 stars, 22 forks, 6 contributors, 157 commits. Stars alone never qualify a project.
Repository measurements
SignalValueSourceFetchedCounts
GitHub stars268GitHub repositoryYes — one part of the repository route
GitHub forks22GitHub repositoryYes — one part of the repository route
Contributors with a GitHub account6GitHub contributorsYes — one part of the repository route
Commits on the default branch157GitHub repositoryNo
Repository's main crate left out of the entrynonecrates.io database dumpYes
Facts that never count
Facts that never count measurements
SignalValueSourceFetchedCounts
LicenseMITcrates.io database dumpNo
Runs on, from listed crates and their direct dependenciesGPU support unknowncrates.io database dumpNo
What shows each backendno dependency or feature matches a backend rowcrates.io database dumpNo
Native code, from listed crates and their dependenciesNo native code foundcrates.io database dumpNo
Python bindings, from direct dependencies of listed cratesNo Python binding crate foundcrates.io database dumpNo
Crates that depend on a listed crate directly13crates.io database dumpNo

Corrections and review history

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Judgments

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