AI engineering glossary · RAG vector search
What is embedding cache?
Embedding cache: Storing computed embeddings keyed by the input text, so repeated inputs need not be embedded again. It cuts cost and latency during ingestion, when most chunks are unchanged, and for frequently repeated user queries.
Embedding cache: an example
A hash of each chunk's text is used to skip embedding the 90% of chunks that did not change.
Related terms
More RAG vector search terms
- Embedding drift
- Exact nearest neighbour search
- FAISS
- Faithfulness
- Fixed-size chunking
- Flat index
- Full-text search
- Golden dataset
Where you learn it
Embedding cache is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.