n8n-nodes-minimemory

An n8n community node for embedded vector database operations - 100% serverless.

Perform vector similarity search directly within n8n without any external server. Perfect for:

• RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)
• Semantic search
• Recommendations
• Deduplication

Features

• No server required - Everything runs locally within n8n
• Similarity search - Find the k most similar vectors
• Hybrid search - Combine vector + keyword (BM25) search
• Multiple metrics - Cosine, Euclidean, Dot Product
• Metadata support - Associate additional information with each vector
• Metadata filtering - MongoDB-style query operators
• Persistence - Save/load from JSON files
• Bulk insert - Insert multiple vectors from previous nodes

Installation

From n8n UI (Recommended)

1. Go to Settings > Community Nodes
2. Search for n8n-nodes-minimemory
3. Click Install

From npm

cd ~/.n8n/nodes
npm install n8n-nodes-minimemory

Then restart n8n.

Operations

Create Database

Create a new vector database in memory.

| Parameter | Description | Example | |-----------|-------------|---------| | Database Name | Unique name for the DB | my_vectors | | Dimensions | Number of dimensions | 384 (MiniLM), 1536 (OpenAI) | | Distance Metric | Similarity metric | cosine, euclidean, dot | | Index Type | Index type | flat (exact), hnsw (fast) |

Insert Vector

Insert a single vector with ID and optional metadata.

| Parameter | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Vector ID | Unique identifier | | Vector | Array of numbers [0.1, 0.2, ...] | | Metadata | JSON object {"title": "Doc 1"} |

Insert Many

Bulk insert vectors from input items.

| Parameter | Description | Default | |-----------|-------------|---------| | ID Field | Field containing the ID | id | | Vector Field | Field containing the vector | embedding | | Metadata Fields | Fields for metadata (empty = all) | |

Example input:

[
  {"id": "doc1", "embedding": [0.1, 0.2, ...], "title": "Document 1"},
  {"id": "doc2", "embedding": [0.3, 0.4, ...], "title": "Document 2"}
]

Search

Search for the k nearest neighbors using vector, keyword, or hybrid search.

| Parameter | Description | Default | |-----------|-------------|---------| | Search Mode | vector, keyword, or hybrid | vector | | Query Vector | Vector for similarity search | (required for vector/hybrid) | | Keywords | Text for BM25 keyword search | (required for keyword/hybrid) | | Text Fields | Metadata fields to search | content,text,title,description | | Number of Results (K) | Number of results | 10 | | Include Vectors | Include vectors in result | false | | Minimum Similarity | Filter by minimum similarity | 0 | | Use Metadata Filter | Enable metadata filtering | false | | Metadata Filter | JSON filter (see below) | {} | | Hybrid Alpha | Vector(1) vs Keyword(0) balance | 0.5 | | Fusion Method | rrf or weighted | rrf | | BM25 K1 | Term saturation parameter | 1.2 | | BM25 B | Length normalization | 0.75 |

Output:

{
  "success": true,
  "searchMode": "hybrid",
  "filterApplied": true,
  "results": [
    {"id": "doc1", "score": 0.032, "vectorSimilarity": 0.9, "keywordScore": 12.4, "metadata": {...}},
    {"id": "doc2", "score": 0.028, "vectorSimilarity": 0.8, "keywordScore": 8.2, "metadata": {...}}
  ]
}

Metadata Filtering (New in v0.2.0)

Filter search results by metadata fields using MongoDB-style operators.

Basic Filters

// Exact match
{"category": "tech"}

// Multiple conditions (implicit AND)
{"category": "tech", "author": "John"}

Comparison Operators

| Operator | Description | Example | |----------|-------------|---------| | $eq | Equal (implicit) | {"status": "active"} | | $ne | Not equal | {"status": {"$ne": "deleted"}} | | $gt | Greater than | {"score": {"$gt": 0.5}} | | $gte | Greater or equal | {"price": {"$gte": 100}} | | $lt | Less than | {"age": {"$lt": 30}} | | $lte | Less or equal | {"count": {"$lte": 10}} |

Array Operators

| Operator | Description | Example | |----------|-------------|---------| | $in | In array | {"category": {"$in": ["tech", "science"]}} | | $nin | Not in array | {"type": {"$nin": ["spam", "ad"]}} |

String Operators

| Operator | Description | Example | |----------|-------------|---------| | $contains | Contains (case-insensitive) | {"title": {"$contains": "AI"}} | | $startsWith | Starts with | {"name": {"$startsWith": "Dr."}} | | $endsWith | Ends with | {"file": {"$endsWith": ".pdf"}} |

Other Operators

| Operator | Description | Example | |----------|-------------|---------| | $exists | Field exists | {"email": {"$exists": true}} |

Logical Operators

// AND - all conditions must match
{
  "$and": [
    {"category": "tech"},
    {"score": {"$gt": 0.8}}
  ]
}

// OR - any condition matches
{
  "$or": [
    {"type": "article"},
    {"type": "blog"}
  ]
}

Nested Fields

Access nested object fields using dot notation:

{"user.profile.country": "US"}

Filter Examples

Find tech articles with high score:

{
  "$and": [
    {"category": "tech"},
    {"score": {"$gte": 0.8}}
  ]
}

Find documents from specific authors:

{"author": {"$in": ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]}}

Find recent documents with keyword:

{
  "timestamp": {"$gt": "2024-01-01"},
  "title": {"$contains": "machine learning"}
}

Get

Get a vector by its ID.

Delete Vector

Delete a vector by its ID.

Save to File

Save the database to a JSON file.

Load from File

Load a database from a JSON file.

Get Info

Get database information and statistics.

List Databases

List all databases in memory.

Clear Database

Remove all vectors from the database.

Delete Database

Remove a database from memory.

Example Workflow

Basic RAG with OpenAI

[Trigger]
    |
[OpenAI Embeddings] -> [Minimemory: Insert Many]
    |
[Query Input]
    |
[OpenAI Embeddings] -> [Minimemory: Search] -> [OpenAI Chat]
    |
[Response]

Step by step:

1. Create DB (run once):

   • Operation: Create Database
   • Database Name: docs
   • Dimensions: 1536 (OpenAI)
   • Distance: cosine

2. Index documents:

   • Connect node that generates embeddings
   • Operation: Insert Many
   • ID Field: id
   • Vector Field: embedding

3. Search:

   • Connect query with embedding
   • Operation: Search
   • Query Vector: {{ $json.embedding }}
   • K: 5

Persistence

Databases live in memory while n8n is running. To persist:

[Startup Trigger] -> [Minimemory: Load from File]
                           |
                    (DB available for use)
                           |
[Before shutdown] -> [Minimemory: Save to File]

Embedding Compatibility

| Model | Dimensions | Notes | |-------|------------|-------| | all-MiniLM-L6-v2 | 384 | Fast, good for short text | | all-mpnet-base-v2 | 768 | Better quality | | text-embedding-ada-002 | 1536 | OpenAI legacy | | text-embedding-3-small | 1536 | OpenAI new | | text-embedding-3-large | 3072 | OpenAI high quality | | embed-english-v3.0 | 1024 | Cohere |

Performance

• Flat Index: O(n) - Exact, ideal for < 10,000 vectors
• HNSW Index: O(log n) - Approximate, for large datasets

Troubleshooting

"Database not found"

Make sure to run Create Database or Load from File first.

"Dimension mismatch"

The inserted/searched vector has a different number of dimensions than the DB.

Node doesn't appear

1. Verify npm run build completed without errors
2. Check the link with npm ls -g --link
3. Restart n8n

Support

For issues and feature requests, please visit: https://github.com/MauricioPerera/n8n-nodes-minimemory/issues

License

MIT