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Refactor DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search to use batching#1097

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hildebrandmw merged 3 commits into
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mhildebr/exhaustive-2
May 21, 2026
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Refactor DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search to use batching#1097
hildebrandmw merged 3 commits into
mainfrom
mhildebr/exhaustive-2

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Refactor DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search to use the bulk pq_distances method instead of one-by-one computation. This does two things:

  1. The bulk method is presumably a little more efficient.
  2. This moves the implementation away from Accessor/BuildQueryComputer to help with Simplify the DataProvider contract for graph search #1067.

The small tricky bit is deriving the maximum batch size from the size of scratch. To that end, I added a private accessor for PQScratch to return this bound.

@hildebrandmw hildebrandmw requested review from a team and Copilot May 21, 2026 18:04
@hildebrandmw hildebrandmw changed the title Refactor DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search. Refactor DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search to use batching May 21, 2026
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Pull request overview

This PR refactors DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search (disk-based search) to compute PQ distances in batches using the bulk pq_distances path, reducing per-vector overhead and moving the implementation away from Accessor::get_element/BuildQueryComputer to support the direction in #1067.

Changes:

  • Refactor flat_search to scan IDs in chunks and call DiskAccessor::pq_distances per chunk rather than computing PQ distances one-by-one.
  • Add PQScratch::max_vectors() to expose the maximum safe batch size based on scratch capacity.
  • Extend existing PQ scratch tests to validate max_vectors().

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File Description
diskann-disk/src/search/provider/disk_provider.rs Batch flat_search PQ distance computation via pq_distances, deriving batch size from scratch capacity.
diskann-disk/src/search/pq/pq_scratch.rs Add PQScratch::max_vectors() and test coverage for the new accessor.

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Comment thread diskann-disk/src/search/provider/disk_provider.rs
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Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 78.94737% with 4 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 89.48%. Comparing base (5443ca0) to head (19a4a3c).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on main.

Files with missing lines Patch % Lines
diskann-disk/src/search/provider/disk_provider.rs 75.00% 4 Missing ⚠️

❌ Your patch status has failed because the patch coverage (78.94%) is below the target coverage (90.00%). You can increase the patch coverage or adjust the target coverage.

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@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #1097      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   89.46%   89.48%   +0.01%     
==========================================
  Files         473      474       +1     
  Lines       89653    89751      +98     
==========================================
+ Hits        80212    80311      +99     
+ Misses       9441     9440       -1     
Flag Coverage Δ
miri 89.48% <78.94%> (+0.01%) ⬆️
unittests 89.12% <78.94%> (+0.01%) ⬆️

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

Files with missing lines Coverage Δ
diskann-disk/src/search/pq/pq_scratch.rs 90.00% <100.00%> (+0.81%) ⬆️
diskann-disk/src/search/provider/disk_provider.rs 90.86% <75.00%> (-0.33%) ⬇️

... and 12 files with indirect coverage changes

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Thanks Mark, just had one question about whether there is any change to allocation in the search path.

Comment thread diskann-disk/src/search/provider/disk_provider.rs
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Thanks Mark, just had one question about whether there is any change to allocation in the search path.

There shouldn't be. If there is, then the normal beam expansion also has an allocation. I believe the PQ scratch is sized such that all the necessary buffers are already allocated. Plus, the scratch is stored in an ObjectPool to further amortize the allocation. Basically, there should be no more allocations than there already are.

@hildebrandmw hildebrandmw merged commit 4f70a82 into main May 21, 2026
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@hildebrandmw hildebrandmw deleted the mhildebr/exhaustive-2 branch May 21, 2026 22:49
arkrishn94 added a commit that referenced this pull request May 28, 2026
# DiskANN v0.53.0 Release Notes

## Breaking Changes

An AI generated, human reviewed list of changes is summarized below.

### Paged search overhauled — channel-based API
([#1078](#1078))

`PagedSearchState` and its `'static`-bound pause/resume model have been
replaced with an async, channel-based interface. The recommended way to
drive paged search is now via a `tokio::sync::mpsc` channel, with the
searcher embedded in an otherwise-`'static` future. See the [rendered
RFC](https://github.com/microsoft/DiskANN/blob/main/rfcs/01078-paged-search.md)
for the new shape. Callers wired against `PagedSearchState` must migrate
to the channel API.

Users of paged search via `wrapped_async::DiskANNIndex` that know their
inner futures will never suspend can use the new
`wrapped_async::DiskANNIndex::paged_search_no_await`; this will
efficiently run paged searches with minimal synchronization overhead.

### `DiskANNIndex::flat_search` removed
([#1076](#1076))

`DiskANNIndex::flat_search` and the `IdIterator` trait have been removed
from the `diskann` crate. Equivalent functionality lives on the new
inherent method `DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search` in `diskann-disk`. This
unblocks the experimental directions in #1067 and #983.

```rust
// Before
diskann_index.flat_search(query, ...)?;

// After
disk_index_searcher.flat_search(query, ...).await?;
```

### `DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search` now batched
([#1097](#1097))

The new `DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search` uses the bulk `pq_distances`
path instead of one-vector-at-a-time `Accessor::build_query_computer` +
`evaluate_similarity`. Downstream behavior is equivalent but tighter
resource bounds apply.

### `centroid` removed from PQ interfaces
([#1010](#1010))

The dataset-centroid argument has been removed from `FixedChunkPQTable`
construction, `populate`, and most other PQ APIs. The shift only ever
worked for L2 distance and was silently ignored for inner-product /
cosine, so passing it was a footgun. When an L2 shift is required, fold
it into the PQ pivots instead (the library now does this internally).

```rust
// Before
let table = FixedChunkPQTable::new(.., centroid, ..);

// After — drop the centroid argument
let table = FixedChunkPQTable::new(.., ..);
```

### Flat search interface
([#983](#983))

A new `flat` module in `diskann` adds a provider-agnostic brute-force
search surface, mirroring the shape of graph search. Backends implement
a single trait, `DistancesUnordered<C>` (in `flat/strategy.rs`), which
fuses iteration and distance computation, allowing any backend
(in-memory, quantized, disk, remote) to plug into a shared algorithm.
See the [rendered
RFC](https://github.com/microsoft/DiskANN/blob/main/rfcs/00983-flat-search.md).
This is additive but is the new canonical surface — direct ad-hoc
flat-search call sites should migrate.

### `bf_tree` extracted into `diskann-bftree` crate
([#1020](#1020))

The bf_tree provider has been moved out of `diskann-providers`
(previously at
`diskann-providers/src/model/graph/provider/async_/bf_tree/`) into a new
standalone `diskann-bftree` crate. Along with the move:

- Switched from PQ to spherical quantization.
- Dropped dependencies on `DeletionCheck`, `AsDeletionCheck`, and
`RemoveDeletedIdsAndCopy`.
- Simplified generics.

Consumers must update their `Cargo.toml` to depend on `diskann-bftree`
and update import paths.

### `direct_distance_impl` and `inner_product_raw` re-exposed
([#1081](#1081))

`direct_distance_impl` (free function) and
`FixedChunkPQTable::inner_product_raw` are `pub` again after being
privatized in #1044. Restored to unblock a downstream user. Not breaking
in the typical direction — this restores previously available API
surface.

### MinMax `recompress` takes a grid-scale parameter
([#1109](#1109))

The MinMax `recompress` API now accepts a grid-scale parameter. 

## New Features

- SIMD-optimized L2-squared norm
([#1107](#1107))
- Significantly faster bitmap computation
([#1099](#1099))
- Large speedup on the bitmap construction path used by filtered search.
- LLVM IR bloat regression check in CI
([#1083](#1083))
- CI now flags regressions in generated LLVM IR size, helping catch
unintended monomorphization blow-ups.
- Recall computation fix for under-k groundtruth
([#1069](#1069))

## Merged PRs

* Revise README for DiskANN3 by @harsha-simhadri in
#1046
* [CI] Try to fix publishing step by @hildebrandmw in
#1057
* [benchmark] Remove `DispatchRule` by @hildebrandmw in
#1064
* [benchmark] Automatic Input Registration by @hildebrandmw in
#1066
* Remove centroid from most PQ interfaces by @hildebrandmw in
#1010
* [diskann/disk] Remove `flat_search` from `DiskANNIndex` by
@hildebrandmw in #1076
* macos build and miri check to nightly by @harsha-simhadri in
#1058
* [API] Make some methods public again by @hildebrandmw in
#1081
* [benchmark] Simply `Inputs` more by @hildebrandmw in
#1077
* Turn on stack protection for the diskann-garnet NuGet build by
@jackmoffitt in #1082
* Fix options for diskann-garnet nuget pipeline by @jackmoffitt in
#1091
* [CI] add LLVM IR bloat regression check by @arazumov in
#1083
* Bump openssl from 0.10.79 to 0.10.80 by @dependabot[bot] in
#1093
* [Disk CI benchmarks] Use 1ES.Pool=diskann-github by @arazumov in
#869
* Fix recall computation for fewer than k groundtruth results by
@magdalendobson in #1069
* bf_tree migration away from diskann-providers by @JordanMaples in
#1020
* [RFC/diskann] Overhaul paged search by @hildebrandmw in
#1078
* Remove unsafe code from compute_vec_l2sq by @arazumov in
#1094
* Remove direct accessor call in `diskann-garnet` by @hildebrandmw in
#1098
* Refactor `DiskIndexSearcher::flat_search` to use batching by
@hildebrandmw in #1097
* [flat index] Flat Search Interface by @arkrishn94 in
#983
* migrating multi-hop tests from diskann-providers to diskann by
@JordanMaples in #928
* Significantly speed up bitmap computation by @magdalendobson in
#1099
* `compute_vecs_l2sq`: Replace scalar L2 Squared norm with
SIMD-optimized FastL2NormSquared by @arazumov in
#1107
* [minmax] Add grid scaling to recompress API by @arkrishn94 in
#1109

**Full Changelog**:
v0.52.0...v0.53.0
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