Backing Stores

CyborgDB transforms traditional databases into Confidential Vector Databases by leveraging their storage capabilities while adding encrypted vector search functionality. Choose the backing store that best fits your existing infrastructure and operational requirements.

Storage surface. CyborgDB supports disk and s3 (AWS S3 or any S3-compatible store) across both deployment models.

Amazon S3

Available in: Service · Embedded Scalable cloud object storage for distributed deployments CyborgDB supports Amazon S3 (and S3-compatible stores such as MinIO) as a backing store, enabling fully cloud-native deployments without managing a traditional database server.

Key Benefits

Infinite Scalability
Object storage scales seamlessly with your data — no capacity planning or provisioning required. Managed Infrastructure
No database servers to patch, tune, or back up. AWS handles availability and durability. S3-Compatible
Works with AWS S3, MinIO, Cloudflare R2, and any other S3-compatible object store that supports conditional writes. Best For: Cloud-native deployments and workloads that already rely on object storage infrastructure.

Disk

Available in: Service · Embedded

The embedded libraries and LangChain integration select this backend with StorageConfig.disk(path). CyborgDB Service selects it via CYBORGDB_DB_TYPE=disk (and it is the default).

Persistent local storage for single-node deployments The disk backend provides persistent key-value storage directly on local disk, with no network dependency. This makes it the recommended backing store for single-node CyborgDB deployments where simplicity and reliability are priorities.

Key Benefits

No Network Dependency All data is stored locally on disk — no external database servers to configure or manage. Persistent Storage Data survives process restarts. Optimized for Embedded Use Low memory footprint with filesystem support. Best For: Embedded/local deployments, single-machine applications, edge devices, and scenarios where you want persistent storage without external infrastructure.

Managed Services Support

CyborgDB works seamlessly with managed object storage services, reducing operational overhead while maintaining security and performance.

AWS

Amazon S3
Scalable object storage with 11 nines of durability

Cloudflare

Cloudflare R2
S3-compatible object storage with zero egress fees

Self-hosted

MinIO
S3-compatible object storage you control end-to-end

Choosing the Right Backing Store

Use Disk
Use S3

Single-node deployment — You want persistent local storage with no external dependencies
Edge devices — Running on hardware without network access to databases
Simplicity — You want a single-binary deployment with built-in storage
Local development — Persistent storage that survives restarts without infrastructure
Default choice — It’s the service default and works out of the box

One process per storage target. A given disk path or S3 bucket/prefix must be used by a single CyborgDB process (embedded application or service instance) at a time. Running multiple processes or service replicas against the same storage target is not currently supported. To scale, add CPU threads or GPU acceleration to a single process, or shard indexes across separate storage targets.

Configuration Examples

Embedded library

Disk

from cyborgdb_core import Client, StorageConfig

# Local disk
storage_config = StorageConfig.disk("/var/lib/cyborgdb")

client = Client(storage_config=storage_config)

from cyborgdb_core import StorageConfig, S3Credentials

# AWS S3 (credentials from the AWS default credential chain)
storage_config = StorageConfig.s3("my-bucket", region="us-east-1")

# AWS S3 with explicit credentials
storage_config = StorageConfig.s3(
    "my-bucket",
    region="us-east-1",
    credentials=S3Credentials(access_key="AKID...", secret_key="..."),
)

# MinIO (S3-compatible)
storage_config = StorageConfig.s3(
    "my-bucket",
    region="us-east-1",
    endpoint="http://localhost:9000",
    credentials=S3Credentials(access_key="minioadmin", secret_key="minioadmin"),
)

Service

Select via the CYBORGDB_DB_TYPE environment variable (or the equivalent YAML key). See Environment Variables for the full list.

# disk (default)
export CYBORGDB_DB_TYPE=disk
export CYBORGDB_DISK_PATH=/var/lib/cyborgdb   # optional, defaults to ~/.cyborgdb/data
export CACHE_POLICY_VECTORS=true              # optional, disk only
export CACHE_POLICY_METADATA=true             # optional, disk only
export CACHE_POLICY_IDS=true                  # optional, disk only

# s3
export CYBORGDB_DB_TYPE=s3
export CYBORGDB_S3_BUCKET=my-bucket
export CYBORGDB_S3_REGION=us-east-1
export CYBORGDB_S3_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:9000   # optional, for S3-compatible stores
export CYBORGDB_S3_PREFIX=cyborgdb/                 # optional
export CYBORGDB_S3_ACCESS_KEY=...                   # optional, otherwise the AWS default credential chain
export CYBORGDB_S3_SECRET_KEY=...
export CYBORGDB_S3_SESSION_TOKEN=...                # optional

With a custom CYBORGDB_S3_ENDPOINT (MinIO, R2, etc.), set CYBORGDB_S3_ACCESS_KEY and CYBORGDB_S3_SECRET_KEY explicitly.

Performance Characteristics

Backing Store	Latency	Throughput	Durability	Consistency
Disk	~10µs	High	Local Disk	Single Process
S3	~10ms	Medium	Full (11 nines)	Strong

Choose based on your application’s specific requirements for speed, durability, and consistency.

CyborgDB Docs

Getting Started

Security

Resources

Amazon S3

Key Benefits

Disk

Key Benefits

Managed Services Support

AWS

Cloudflare

Self-hosted

Choosing the Right Backing Store

Configuration Examples

Embedded library

Service

Performance Characteristics

​Amazon S3

​Key Benefits

​Disk

​Key Benefits

​Managed Services Support

AWS

Cloudflare

Self-hosted

​Choosing the Right Backing Store

​Configuration Examples

​Embedded library

​Service

​Performance Characteristics

Amazon S3

Key Benefits

Disk

Key Benefits

Managed Services Support

Choosing the Right Backing Store

Configuration Examples

Embedded library

Service

Performance Characteristics