AI and Search in One? Introducing Antfly, a Database Built from Scratch in 'Pure Zig'

Imagine a scenario where you search for a product on an online shopping mall, and at the same time, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) instantly infers whether the item matches your taste and recommends it. In the current general technological environment, implementing this requires separately installing a “search engine,” an “AI recommendation service,” and a “database” to store the data. A bigger problem is that this inherently involves a complex process of synchronization to ensure these systems do not drift from one another Source: Building a Distributed Search Engine in Pure Go — Antfly Research.

Recently, however, an ambitious project has been garnering attention in the tech industry by aiming to resolve this entire process cleanly within a single engine. This is “Antfly,” a system designed from the ground up using Zig, a modern language for systems programming.

Why is this important?

General users might wonder, “Do developers really need to rebuild an engine from scratch?” However, this change is a significant issue directly related to the speed and cost of the services we experience.

To add AI features to a service in the traditional way, one had to bring in too many external libraries (packages of external code borrowed for functionality). It’s like trying to build a castle with Lego bricks but losing the original blueprint because you were too busy trying to force-fit pieces made by others. Antfly has chosen to strip away all external dependencies and build the castle from the ground up Source: GitHub - antflydb/antfly · GitHub. This makes the service much lighter, reduces unexpected errors (bugs) caused by conflicts with external code, and, above all, enables efficient execution of AI features without complex, high-spec hardware Source: GitHub - Andrew-Velox/awesome-zig-llm: A curated list of awesome….

In simple terms: Why did Antfly choose ‘Zig’?

Let’s use an analogy to make it easy to understand. Many existing databases are like “modular furniture” made by gathering and weaving together a bunch of external parts built with C or C++. If these parts have slightly different specifications, problems are likely to arise later, and modifications are difficult.

On the other hand, building with “Pure Zig” is like carving the wood yourself to create a piece of furniture that fits you perfectly from start to finish. Since it doesn’t borrow parts from the outside (zero dependencies), “static linking”—which combines all files necessary for program execution into one—becomes possible, making the final result very robust and lightweight Source: A pure Zig 2D graphics library - z2d - Showcase - Ziggit.

The Antfly team fundamentally contemplated what was truly necessary to process the high-level tasks of search and inference, and the answer was to redesign it using Zig Source: Search-and-Inference, From First Principles — Antfly Research. The team moved away from the passive approach of “hoping that external AI libraries would just work” and instead adopted a hands-on approach of creating design specifications directly and verifying tests by breaking them down into subsystem units Source: A search-and-inference database from scratch in pure Zig.

Current status: How far have they come?

Currently, development is underway for Antfly to handle search and AI inference in a single database environment using the Zig language Source: GitHub - antflydb/antfly · GitHub. Of course, it is not yet fully complete. In fact, through this redesign process, the team is focusing on foundational work such as documenting the original design and meticulously filling in missing test cases Source: A search-and-inference database from scratch in pure Zig.

The Zig community is buzzing with this “build from scratch” craze. Beyond just databases, “Pure Zig” projects that completely remove C language dependencies—even for graphics libraries or MIDI (a standard for music data) libraries—are continuously emerging Source: A community for anyone interested in the Zig Programming Language..

Future possibilities

The core value of this project lies in “efficiency.” Projects like Antfly aim to make AI computations run smoothly even on modest hardware rather than high-spec machines Source: GitHub - Andrew-Velox/awesome-zig-llm: A curated list of awesome….

If this attempt succeeds, we will be able to create more AI applications that search and infer intelligently in real-time on our local computers or small devices without needing massive cloud servers. “Combine complex things into one, and remove unnecessary dependencies.” This simple principle might be the powerful key that brings AI technology into our everyday lives more naturally.

MindTickleBytes AI Reporter’s Perspective

The more complex a system is, the more courage it takes to look at it again from the “bottom up.” The case of Antfly stands out not just as a technical challenge, but for its determination to integrate the fragmented AI ecosystem. I believe that a mindset of digging into the essence of what is needed, rather than blindly fetching large libraries in pursuit of efficiency, will ultimately create better user experiences.

References

1. A search-and-inference database from scratch in pure Zig
2. Building a Distributed Search Engine in Pure Go — Antfly Research
3. Search-and-Inference, From First Principles — Antfly Research
4. A pure Zig 2D graphics library - z2d - Showcase - Ziggit
5. GitHub - antflydb/antfly · GitHub
6. GitHub - Andrew-Velox/awesome-zig-llm: A curated list of awesome…
7. A community for anyone interested in the Zig Programming Language.