vector

name	vector
description	Use when the user wants to search, query, insert, upsert, get, or delete vectors in a Milvus collection.

Prerequisites

1. CLI installed, logged in, and cluster context set (see setup skill).
2. Target collection must exist and be loaded (see collection skill).

Commands Reference

All vector commands accept an optional --database <db-name> flag to target a non-default database. If omitted, the database from the current context is used.

Insert Vectors

zilliz vector insert --collection <collection-name> --data '[{"id": 1, "vector": [0.1, 0.2, ...], "text": "hello"}]'
# Optional: --database <database-name>
# Or use raw JSON: --body '{...}'

Upsert Vectors

zilliz vector upsert --collection <collection-name> --data '[{"id": 1, "vector": [0.1, 0.2, ...], "text": "hello"}]'
# Optional: --partition <partition-name>, --database <database-name>
# Or use raw JSON: --body '{...}'

Vector Search

zilliz vector search --collection <collection-name> --data '[[0.1, 0.2, 0.3, ...]]'
# Optional:
#   --anns-field <vector-field-to-search-on>
#   --limit <max-results-to-return>
#   --filter <scalar-filter-expression>
#   --output-fields '["field1", "field2"]'
#   --database <database-name>

Hybrid Search

zilliz vector hybrid-search \
  --collection <collection-name> \
  --search '[{"data": [[0.1, ...]], "annsField": "dense_vector", "limit": 10}, {"data": [["search text"]], "annsField": "sparse_vector", "limit": 10}]' \
  --rerank '{"strategy": "rrf", "params": {"k": 60}}'
# Optional:
#   --limit <max-results-to-return>
#   --output-fields '["field1", "field2"]'
#   --database <database-name>
# Or use raw JSON: --body '{...}'

Query by Filter

zilliz vector query --collection <collection-name> --filter <scalar-filter-expression>
# Optional:
#   --limit <max-results-to-return>
#   --output-fields '["field1", "field2"]'
#   --database <database-name>

Get by ID

zilliz vector get --collection <collection-name> --id '[1, 2, 3]'
# Optional: --output-fields '["field1", "field2"]', --database <database-name>

Delete a Vector

zilliz vector delete --collection <collection-name> --filter <filter>
# Optional: --partition <partition-name>, --database <database-name>

Filter Expression Syntax

Common filter patterns:

Expression	Example
Comparison	age > 20
Equality	status == "active"
IN list	id in [1, 2, 3]
AND/OR	age > 20 and status == "active"
String match	text like "hello%"
Array contains	tags array_contains "ml"

Guidance

• The --data parameter accepts a JSON array of vectors. Each vector is an array of floats.
• Before searching, inspect the collection schema with zilliz collection describe to understand field names and vector dimensions.
• The collection must be loaded before search/query operations.
• For search, the --data value must match the collection's vector dimension exactly.
• Use --anns-field to specify which vector field to search on when the collection has multiple vector fields.
• When the user provides a text query and wants semantic search, explain that they need to convert text to vectors first (using an embedding model) before passing to --data.
• For large insert operations, suggest writing data to a JSON file first, then using zilliz vector insert --collection <name> --data "$(cat data.json)".
• Always show --output-fields when the user wants specific fields in results.
• Or use --body for complex hybrid search configurations.