pgvector-cobol

title: pgvector-cobol slug: pgvector-cobol brand: pgvector brand_logo: https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/101229709 category: sdks-libraries tags:

• sdk
• pgvector
• vector-store
• cobol
• postgresql
• embeddings source_url: https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector-cobol license: MIT featured: false images:
• https://opengraph.githubassets.com/1/pgvector/pgvector-cobol

Overview

pgvector-cobol provides COBOL examples and bindings for the pgvector PostgreSQL extension, enabling legacy COBOL applications (via Open Cobol ESQL) to store and query vector embeddings in PostgreSQL.

Features

• COBOL examples for pgvector

  • Sample COBOL code showing how to work with pgvector from COBOL programs.
  • Includes a complete example program (example.cbl).

• Open Cobol ESQL support

  • Designed to work with Open Cobol ESQL.
  • Uses embedded SQL (EXEC SQL ... END-EXEC) within COBOL.

• Extension management

  • Example for enabling the vector extension in PostgreSQL:
    • EXEC SQL CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector END-EXEC.

• Schema definition for vectors

  • Example of creating a table with a vector column type:
    • EXEC SQL CREATE TABLE items ( id bigserial PRIMARY KEY, embedding vector(3) ) END-EXEC.
  • Demonstrates usage of fixed-dimension vectors (e.g., dimension 3).

• Inserting vector data

  • Shows how to assign vector values to COBOL variables and insert them into PostgreSQL:
    • Move JSON-like array strings (e.g., "[1,2,3]") into COBOL variables.
    • Insert multiple embeddings into the vector column via embedded SQL.

• Vector similarity search

  • Example query to retrieve nearest neighbors using pgvector distance operator <->:
    • ORDER BY embedding <-> :EMBEDDING LIMIT 5
  • Demonstrates selecting the nearest item ID into a COBOL variable.

• Reference example program

  • example.cbl shows end-to-end flow: enabling extension, creating table, inserting vectors, and querying nearest neighbors.

• Open-source license

  • Released under the MIT license.

Getting Started

• Install and configure Open Cobol ESQL.
• Enable the vector extension in your PostgreSQL database from COBOL using:
  • EXEC SQL CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector END-EXEC.
• Follow the README.md and example.cbl in the repository to:
  • Define tables with vector columns.
  • Insert embedding data from COBOL variables.
  • Run nearest neighbor queries with pgvector operators.

Pricing

• pgvector-cobol is an open-source project released under the MIT license and is free to use.