> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.xtrace.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# XTrace Vector DB — Encrypted vector search

> Semantic search with the privacy guarantees of keeping your data on your own machine. Content is AES-encrypted and embedding vectors are homomorphically encrypted before they ever leave your laptop.

Traditional vector databases require you to hand your data to a third party in plaintext. **x-vec** is different: your document content is AES-encrypted and your embedding vectors are homomorphically encrypted **before they leave your machine**. The server stores and searches over ciphertexts — computing nearest-neighbor Hamming distances directly on encrypted vectors — without ever seeing the underlying data. When results come back, you decrypt them locally.

You get semantic search with the same privacy guarantees as if the data never left your laptop.

<Note>
  **Looking for hosted agent memory?** x-vec is the low-level encrypted vector database. If you want managed memory for AI agents — send conversation turns, get back searchable facts — see the [Memory docs](/introduction) instead.
</Note>

## Get started

<Note>
  **Create a free account** at [app.xtrace.ai](https://app.xtrace.ai) to get your API key and org ID. The free tier is rate-limited but fully functional.
</Note>

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Installation" icon="download" href="/x-vec/installation">
    Install the Python SDK and optional extras
  </Card>

  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/x-vec/quickstart">
    Concept-first walkthrough with full code examples
  </Card>

  <Card title="CLI" icon="terminal" href="/x-vec/cli">
    Terminal-first workflow — querying in four commands
  </Card>

  <Card title="Embedding models" icon="layer-group" href="/x-vec/embedding-models">
    Ollama, Sentence Transformers, OpenAI, or your own vectors
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Reference

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Managed service" icon="server" href="/x-vec/managed-service">
    `XTraceIntegration` — security model, chunk operations, context management
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuration" icon="gear" href="/x-vec/configuration">
    Crypto backends, key providers, AWS KMS, environment variables
  </Card>

  <Card title="CLI reference" icon="terminal" href="/x-vec/cli-reference">
    Full usage for every `xtrace` command
  </Card>

  <Card title="Metadata filtering" icon="filter" href="/x-vec/metadata-filtering">
    Filter syntax, operators, and privacy trade-offs
  </Card>
</CardGroup>