Agent skill

Pinecone Vector Database

by Orchestra-Research in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs

Shows how to use Pinecone, a managed vector database, for production RAG, semantic search and recommendations: indexes, upserts, queries, filters and namespaces.

MITAuto-check passedDatabases

Install Pinecone Vector Database

skills CLI
$ npx skills add Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs --skill pinecone -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs pinecone --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/15-rag/pinecone .claude/skills/pinecone && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
pinecone
GitHub stars
13k
Used in
6 other repos
Token cost
~2k tokens
SKILL.md length
235 words
Files
2 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
96
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Shows how to use Pinecone, a managed vector database, for production RAG, semantic search and recommendations: indexes, upserts, queries, filters and namespaces.

  • Works in 10 steps: Use serverless - Auto-scaling,… → Batch upserts - More efficient (100-200… → Add metadata - Enable filtering → …
  • Choosing a managed vector store for a production RAG application
  • SKILL.md covers When to use Pinecone, Quick start, Core operations and Namespaces, plus 9 more sections
  • Calls pip

What it does

This skill is a working guide to Pinecone, a hosted vector database. It starts with installing the pinecone-client Python package, then goes through creating a serverless index, upserting vectors, querying them, filtering on metadata, deleting vectors by ID, and listing or managing indexes. Namespaces are covered as a way to keep each user's or tenant's data apart inside one index.

It also includes hybrid search that combines dense and sparse vectors, plus connection snippets for LangChain and LlamaIndex. A short best-practices list recommends serverless indexes, batched upserts, metadata on every record, indexing the fields you filter on, watching usage in the Pinecone dashboard and trying a free tier first. Chroma, FAISS and Weaviate are named as options when you want self-hosted or offline search instead.

When your agent uses it

  • Choosing a managed vector store for a production RAG application
  • Adding metadata filtering or hybrid dense and sparse search to retrieval
  • Separating each customer's vectors with namespaces in one index
  • Wiring Pinecone into a LangChain or LlamaIndex pipeline

Example prompts

  • “Create a serverless Pinecone index for our help-center articles and upsert the embeddings in batches.”
  • “Add a metadata filter so queries only return documents tagged category tutorial.”
  • “Switch our RAG app from an in-memory store to Pinecone using LangChain.”
  • “Give each tenant their own namespace in the existing Pinecone index.”

Requirements

  • Python with the `pinecone-client` package
  • A Pinecone account

Workflow steps

10 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Use serverless - Auto-scaling, cost-effective
  2. Batch upserts - More efficient (100-200 per batch)
  3. Add metadata - Enable filtering
  4. Use namespaces - Isolate data by user/tenant
  5. Monitor usage - Check Pinecone dashboard
  6. Optimize filters - Index frequently filtered fields
  7. Test with free tier - 1 index, 100K vectors free
  8. Use hybrid search - Better quality
  9. Set appropriate dimensions - Match embedding model
  10. Regular backups - Export important data

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 773a529. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • pip

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

    • pinecone.io
    • docs.pinecone.io

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Pinecone Vector Database loads about 2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.8k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 79 tokens; SKILL.md has 235 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~79
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~2.8k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs at commit 773a529, republished under its MIT licence (© Orchestra-Research). 235 words, ~1,957 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/pinecone/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
pinecone
description
Managed vector database for production AI applications. Fully managed, auto-scaling, with hybrid search (dense + sparse), metadata filtering, and namespaces. Low latency (<100ms p95). Use for production RAG, recommendation systems, or semantic search at scale. Best for serverless, managed infrastructure.
version
1.0.0
author
Orchestra Research
license
MIT
tags
RAG, Pinecone, Vector Database, Managed Service, Serverless, Hybrid Search, Production, Auto-Scaling, Low Latency, Recommendations
dependencies
pinecone-client

Pinecone - Managed Vector Database

The vector database for production AI applications.

When to use Pinecone

Use when:

  • Need managed, serverless vector database
  • Production RAG applications
  • Auto-scaling required
  • Low latency critical (<100ms)
  • Don't want to manage infrastructure
  • Need hybrid search (dense + sparse vectors)

Metrics:

  • Fully managed SaaS
  • Auto-scales to billions of vectors
  • p95 latency <100ms
  • 99.9% uptime SLA

Use alternatives instead:

  • Chroma: Self-hosted, open-source
  • FAISS: Offline, pure similarity search
  • Weaviate: Self-hosted with more features

Quick start

Installation
bash
pip install pinecone-client
Basic usage
python
from pinecone import Pinecone, ServerlessSpec

# Initialize
pc = Pinecone(api_key="your-api-key")

# Create index
pc.create_index(
    name="my-index",
    dimension=1536,  # Must match embedding dimension
    metric="cosine",  # or "euclidean", "dotproduct"
    spec=ServerlessSpec(cloud="aws", region="us-east-1")
)

# Connect to index
index = pc.Index("my-index")

# Upsert vectors
index.upsert(vectors=[
    {"id": "vec1", "values": [0.1, 0.2, ...], "metadata": {"category": "A"}},
    {"id": "vec2", "values": [0.3, 0.4, ...], "metadata": {"category": "B"}}
])

# Query
results = index.query(
    vector=[0.1, 0.2, ...],
    top_k=5,
    include_metadata=True
)

print(results["matches"])

Core operations

Create index
python
# Serverless (recommended)
pc.create_index(
    name="my-index",
    dimension=1536,
    metric="cosine",
    spec=ServerlessSpec(
        cloud="aws",         # or "gcp", "azure"
        region="us-east-1"
    )
)

# Pod-based (for consistent performance)
from pinecone import PodSpec

pc.create_index(
    name="my-index",
    dimension=1536,
    metric="cosine",
    spec=PodSpec(
        environment="us-east1-gcp",
        pod_type="p1.x1"
    )
)
Upsert vectors
python
# Single upsert
index.upsert(vectors=[
    {
        "id": "doc1",
        "values": [0.1, 0.2, ...],  # 1536 dimensions
        "metadata": {
            "text": "Document content",
            "category": "tutorial",
            "timestamp": "2025-01-01"
        }
    }
])

# Batch upsert (recommended)
vectors = [
    {"id": f"vec{i}", "values": embedding, "metadata": metadata}
    for i, (embedding, metadata) in enumerate(zip(embeddings, metadatas))
]

index.upsert(vectors=vectors, batch_size=100)
Query vectors
python
# Basic query
results = index.query(
    vector=[0.1, 0.2, ...],
    top_k=10,
    include_metadata=True,
    include_values=False
)

# With metadata filtering
results = index.query(
    vector=[0.1, 0.2, ...],
    top_k=5,
    filter={"category": {"$eq": "tutorial"}}
)

# Namespace query
results = index.query(
    vector=[0.1, 0.2, ...],
    top_k=5,
    namespace="production"
)

# Access results
for match in results["matches"]:
    print(f"ID: {match['id']}")
    print(f"Score: {match['score']}")
    print(f"Metadata: {match['metadata']}")
Metadata filtering
python
# Exact match
filter = {"category": "tutorial"}

# Comparison
filter = {"price": {"$gte": 100}}  # $gt, $gte, $lt, $lte, $ne

# Logical operators
filter = {
    "$and": [
        {"category": "tutorial"},
        {"difficulty": {"$lte": 3}}
    ]
}  # Also: $or

# In operator
filter = {"tags": {"$in": ["python", "ml"]}}

Namespaces

python
# Partition data by namespace
index.upsert(
    vectors=[{"id": "vec1", "values": [...]}],
    namespace="user-123"
)

# Query specific namespace
results = index.query(
    vector=[...],
    namespace="user-123",
    top_k=5
)

# List namespaces
stats = index.describe_index_stats()
print(stats['namespaces'])

Hybrid search (dense + sparse)

python
# Upsert with sparse vectors
index.upsert(vectors=[
    {
        "id": "doc1",
        "values": [0.1, 0.2, ...],  # Dense vector
        "sparse_values": {
            "indices": [10, 45, 123],  # Token IDs
            "values": [0.5, 0.3, 0.8]   # TF-IDF scores
        },
        "metadata": {"text": "..."}
    }
])

# Hybrid query
results = index.query(
    vector=[0.1, 0.2, ...],
    sparse_vector={
        "indices": [10, 45],
        "values": [0.5, 0.3]
    },
    top_k=5,
    alpha=0.5  # 0=sparse, 1=dense, 0.5=hybrid
)

LangChain integration

python
from langchain_pinecone import PineconeVectorStore
from langchain_openai import OpenAIEmbeddings

# Create vector store
vectorstore = PineconeVectorStore.from_documents(
    documents=docs,
    embedding=OpenAIEmbeddings(),
    index_name="my-index"
)

# Query
results = vectorstore.similarity_search("query", k=5)

# With metadata filter
results = vectorstore.similarity_search(
    "query",
    k=5,
    filter={"category": "tutorial"}
)

# As retriever
retriever = vectorstore.as_retriever(search_kwargs={"k": 10})

LlamaIndex integration

python
from llama_index.vector_stores.pinecone import PineconeVectorStore

# Connect to Pinecone
pc = Pinecone(api_key="your-key")
pinecone_index = pc.Index("my-index")

# Create vector store
vector_store = PineconeVectorStore(pinecone_index=pinecone_index)

# Use in LlamaIndex
from llama_index.core import StorageContext, VectorStoreIndex

storage_context = StorageContext.from_defaults(vector_store=vector_store)
index = VectorStoreIndex.from_documents(documents, storage_context=storage_context)

Index management

python
# List indices
indexes = pc.list_indexes()

# Describe index
index_info = pc.describe_index("my-index")
print(index_info)

# Get index stats
stats = index.describe_index_stats()
print(f"Total vectors: {stats['total_vector_count']}")
print(f"Namespaces: {stats['namespaces']}")

# Delete index
pc.delete_index("my-index")

Delete vectors

python
# Delete by ID
index.delete(ids=["vec1", "vec2"])

# Delete by filter
index.delete(filter={"category": "old"})

# Delete all in namespace
index.delete(delete_all=True, namespace="test")

# Delete entire index
index.delete(delete_all=True)

Best practices

  1. Use serverless - Auto-scaling, cost-effective
  2. Batch upserts - More efficient (100-200 per batch)
  3. Add metadata - Enable filtering
  4. Use namespaces - Isolate data by user/tenant
  5. Monitor usage - Check Pinecone dashboard
  6. Optimize filters - Index frequently filtered fields
  7. Test with free tier - 1 index, 100K vectors free
  8. Use hybrid search - Better quality
  9. Set appropriate dimensions - Match embedding model
  10. Regular backups - Export important data

Performance

OperationLatencyNotes
Upsert~50-100msPer batch
Query (p50)~50msDepends on index size
Query (p95)~100msSLA target
Metadata filter~+10-20msAdditional overhead

Pricing (as of 2025)

Serverless:

  • $0.096 per million read units
  • $0.06 per million write units
  • $0.06 per GB storage/month

Free tier:

  • 1 serverless index
  • 100K vectors (1536 dimensions)
  • Great for prototyping

Resources

© Orchestra-Research, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in 15-rag/pinecone of Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/deployment.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 773a529

Used in 6 other repositories

We found 10 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 6 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

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Questions about Pinecone Vector Database

What does Pinecone Vector Database do?

Shows how to use Pinecone, a managed vector database, for production RAG, semantic search and recommendations: indexes, upserts, queries, filters and namespaces. This skill is a working guide to Pinecone, a hosted vector database. It starts with installing the pinecone-client Python package, then goes through creating a serverless index, upserting vectors, querying them, filtering on metadata, deleting vectors by ID, and listing or managing indexes.

When should I use Pinecone Vector Database?

Pinecone Vector Database fits situations like: choosing a managed vector store for a production RAG application; adding metadata filtering or hybrid dense and sparse search to retrieval; separating each customer's vectors with namespaces in one index; wiring Pinecone into a LangChain or LlamaIndex pipeline.

How do I install Pinecone Vector Database in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs --skill pinecone -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (15-rag/pinecone in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs) into .claude/skills/pinecone in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Pinecone Vector Database in Codex?

Run `npx skills add Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs --skill pinecone -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (15-rag/pinecone in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs) into .agents/skills/pinecone in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Pinecone Vector Database in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs --skill pinecone -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/pinecone, .gemini/skills/pinecone, .github/skills/pinecone and .opencode/skills/pinecone in your project.

What does Pinecone Vector Database need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Pinecone Vector Database needs the command-line tools its instructions call (pip). Our summary lists: Python with the `pinecone-client` package; A Pinecone account.

Does Pinecone Vector Database access the network?

SKILL.md names 2 domains. As links in the text: pinecone.io and docs.pinecone.io. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Pinecone Vector Database safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Pinecone Vector Database use?

Pinecone Vector Database is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Pinecone Vector Database use?

About 2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 890 tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Pinecone Vector Database?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Pinecone Vector Database: Agentsop Multi Tenant RAG (agentsope/SkillAlchemy, 459 stars), Neo4j Graphrag Skill (neo4j-contrib/neo4j-skills, 114 stars), Langchain RAG (langchain-ai/langchain-skills, 1.3k stars) and DB (oracle/skills, 873 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Pinecone Vector Database?

Orchestra-Research (a GitHub organization) maintains it in Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, which has 13,338 GitHub stars. The repository holds 96 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on June 16, 2026.

Source: Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.