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Getting Started with QQL

QQL is a SQL-like query language and CLI for Qdrant. Instead of writing Python SDK calls you write natural query statements to insert, search, manage, and delete vector data.

How It Works

Every statement goes through three stages:

Your query string
      │
      ▼
  [ Lexer ]      — tokenizes the input into keywords, identifiers, literals
      │
      ▼
  [ Parser ]     — builds a typed AST node (e.g. InsertStmt, SearchStmt)
      │
      ▼
  [ Executor ]   — maps the AST node to a Qdrant client call
      │
      ▼
  Qdrant instance

When you run INSERT, the text field is automatically converted into a dense vector using Fastembed. In hybrid mode (USING HYBRID), a sparse BM25 vector is also generated alongside the dense vector, and searches use Qdrant's Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) by default to merge the results of both retrieval methods. You can override that with FUSION 'dbsf' on hybrid searches.

Installation

Requirements: Python 3.12+, a running Qdrant instance.

From PyPI

pip install qql-cli

From source (development)

git clone https://github.com/pavanjava/qql
cd qql
pip install -e .

Or with uv:

uv sync

After installation the qql command is available globally in your terminal.

Connecting to Qdrant

Before running any queries you must connect to a Qdrant instance. The connection config is saved to ~/.qql/config.json and reused automatically in future sessions.

Local Qdrant (no API key)

qql connect --url http://localhost:6333

Qdrant Cloud (with API key)

qql connect --url https://<your-cluster>.qdrant.io --secret <your-api-key>

On success you will see:

Connecting to http://localhost:6333...
Connected. Config saved to ~/.qql/config.json

QQL Interactive Shell  •  http://localhost:6333
Type help for available commands or exit to quit.

qql>

Starting Qdrant locally with Docker

If you do not have a Qdrant instance running yet:

docker run -p 6333:6333 qdrant/qdrant

Disconnecting

To remove the saved connection config:

qql disconnect

The QQL Shell

Once connected, running qql alone (no arguments) reads the saved config and opens the interactive shell:

qql

Inside the shell:

Input Effect
A QQL statement Executes it and prints the result
help or ? or \h Prints a reference of all available commands
EXECUTE <path> or \e <path> Runs a .qql script file
DUMP <name> <output.qql> Exports a collection to a script file
exit or quit or \q or :q Exits the shell
Empty line / Enter Ignored
Ctrl-D or Ctrl-C Exits the shell

All keywords are case-insensitive — INSERT, insert, and Insert all work.

Your First Queries

-- Create a collection and insert a document
INSERT INTO COLLECTION notes VALUES {'text': 'Qdrant is a vector database', 'author': 'alice', 'year': 2024}

-- Search for similar documents
SEARCH notes SIMILAR TO 'vector storage engines' LIMIT 3

-- Filter results
SEARCH notes SIMILAR TO 'vector databases' LIMIT 5 WHERE year >= 2023

-- Browse with pagination
SCROLL FROM notes LIMIT 10

-- List all collections
SHOW COLLECTIONS

-- Inspect one collection's diagnostics
SHOW COLLECTION notes

-- Retrieve a point by ID
SELECT * FROM notes WHERE id = 1

Next Steps