Updating Data

Every write to an Edge Shard goes through a single method, update, which takes one UpdateOperation describing what to change. The operation is written to the write-ahead log before it is applied to storage, so an update that has returned survives a crash.

update

def update(self, operation: UpdateOperation) -> None

pub fn update(&self, operation: UpdateOperation) -> OperationResult<()>

Parameter	Description
`operation`	The operation to apply.

Returns nothing in Python. In Rust, returns Ok(()) on success.

Creating a named vector that already exists with different parameters fails.

Update Operations

In Python, UpdateOperation is a class with static constructors, one per operation. Each returns an UpdateOperation to pass to update.

Operation	Parameters	Description
`upsert_points`	`points`, `condition`, `update_mode`	Insert or update points.
`delete_points`	`point_ids`	Delete points by ID.
`delete_points_by_filter`	`filter`	Delete every point matching a filter.
`update_vectors`	`point_vectors`, `condition`	Replace vectors on existing points.
`delete_vectors`	`point_ids`, `vector_names`	Delete named vectors from points.
`delete_vectors_by_filter`	`filter`, `vector_names`	Delete named vectors from matching points.
`set_payload`	`point_ids`, `payload`, `key`	Merge payload fields into points.
`set_payload_by_filter`	`filter`, `payload`, `key`	Merge payload fields into matching points.
`overwrite_payload`	`point_ids`, `payload`, `key`	Replace the entire payload on points.
`overwrite_payload_by_filter`	`filter`, `payload`, `key`	Replace the entire payload on matching points.
`delete_payload`	`point_ids`, `keys`	Delete named payload fields from points.
`delete_payload_by_filter`	`filter`, `keys`	Delete named payload fields from matching points.
`clear_payload`	`point_ids`	Delete all payload from points.
`clear_payload_by_filter`	`filter`	Delete all payload from matching points.

Payload Indexes

The update operation also enables you to create and delete payload indexes.

Operation	Parameters	Description
`create_field_index`	`field_name`, `schema`	Index a payload field.
`delete_field_index`	`field_name`	Remove a payload field index.

Modify the Vector Schema

Add or remove named vectors to an existing Edge Shard’s schema. This is useful when migrating to a new embedding model or adding hybrid search to an Edge Shard that already contains data.

Operation	Parameters	Description
`create_dense_vector`	`vector_name`, `size`, `distance`, `multivector_config`, `datatype`	Add a dense named vector to the schema.
`create_sparse_vector`	`vector_name`, `modifier`, `datatype`	Add a sparse named vector to the schema.
`delete_vector_name`	`vector_name`	Remove a named vector from the schema.

Parameters

The key parameter on the payload operations targets a nested field path rather than the payload root.

The condition parameter gates the write by a filter, but the two operations differ. On update_vectors it applies to the whole operation: only points matching the filter are updated. On upsert_points it applies only to points that already exist, so an existing point that fails the filter is left untouched while a point that is new to the shard is inserted regardless of the filter.

The condition parameter controls whether a write is applied, but its behavior depends on the operation. For update_vectors, only points that match the filter are updated. For upsert_points, the filter applies only to existing points. Existing points that do not match the filter remain unchanged, while new points are inserted regardless of the filter.

upsert_points also takes an update_mode:

Mode	Behavior
`UpdateMode.Upsert`	Insert new points and update existing ones. This is the default behavior.
`UpdateMode.InsertOnly`	Insert new points, leave existing ones untouched.
`UpdateMode.UpdateOnly`	Update existing points, do not insert new ones.

In Rust, UpdateOperation is an enum that groups operations by what they modify:

Variant	Covers
`PointOperation`	Upserting, deleting, and syncing points.
`VectorOperation`	Updating and deleting named vectors on existing points.
`PayloadOperation`	Setting, overwriting, deleting, and clearing payload.
`FieldIndexOperation`	Creating and deleting payload field indexes.
`VectorNameOperation`	Adding and removing named vectors from the schema.