Automatically map floats as dense vector

docs/changelog/98512.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+pr: 98512
+summary: Automatically map float arrays of lengths 128 - 2048 as dense_vector
+area: Application
+type: feature
+issues:
+ - 97532

docs/reference/mapping/types/dense-vector.asciidoc

@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ In many cases, a brute-force kNN search is not efficient enough. For this
 reason, the `dense_vector` type supports indexing vectors into a specialized
 data structure to support fast kNN retrieval through the <<search-api-knn, `knn` option>> in the search API
 
+Unmapped array fields of float elements with size between 128 and 2048 are dynamically mapped as `dense_vector` with a default similariy of `cosine`.
+You can override the default similarity by explicitly mapping the field as `dense_vector` with the desired similarity.
+
 Indexing is enabled by default for dense vector fields.
 When indexing is enabled, you can define the vector similarity to use in kNN search:
 
@@ -128,8 +131,9 @@ trade off of lower precision. Vectors using `byte` require dimensions with
 integer values between -128 to 127, inclusive for both indexing and searching.
 
 `dims`::
-(Required, integer)
-Number of vector dimensions. Can't exceed `2048`.
+(Optional, integer)
+Number of vector dimensions. Can't exceed `2048`. If `dims` is not specified,
+it will be set to the length of the first vector added to the field.
 
 `index`::
 (Optional, Boolean)

server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DynamicMappingIT.java

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MapperService.INDEX_MAPPING_NESTED_FIELDS_LIMIT_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MapperService.INDEX_MAPPING_TOTAL_FIELDS_LIMIT_SETTING;
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.vectors.DenseVectorFieldMapper.MIN_DIMS_FOR_DYNAMIC_FLOAT_MAPPING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertSearchHits;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
@@ -662,4 +663,32 @@ public void testSubobjectsFalse() throws Exception {
             assertNotNull(properties.get("time.max"));
         });
     }
+
+    public void testKnnSubObject() throws Exception {
+        assertAcked(indicesAdmin().prepareCreate("test").setMapping("""
+            {
+              "properties": {
+                "obj": {
+                  "type": "object",
+                  "dynamic": "true"
+                },
+                "mapped_obj": {
+                  "type": "object",
+                  "dynamic": "true",
+                  "properties": {
+                    "vector": {
+                      "type": "dense_vector"
+                    }
+                  }
+                }
+              }
+            }""").get());
+
+        client().index(new IndexRequest("test").source("mapped_obj.vector", Randomness.get().doubles(3, 0.0, 5.0).toArray())).get();
+
+        client().index(
+            new IndexRequest("test").source("obj.vector", Randomness.get().doubles(MIN_DIMS_FOR_DYNAMIC_FLOAT_MAPPING, 0.0, 5.0).toArray())
+        ).get();
+
+    }
 }

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexVersion;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fielddata.FieldDataContext;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.fielddata.IndexFieldDataCache;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.vectors.DenseVectorFieldMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.SearchExecutionContext;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.breaker.NoneCircuitBreakerService;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.internal.DocumentParsingObserver;
@@ -40,11 +41,16 @@
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
 
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.vectors.DenseVectorFieldMapper.MAX_DIMS_COUNT;
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.vectors.DenseVectorFieldMapper.MIN_DIMS_FOR_DYNAMIC_FLOAT_MAPPING;
+
 /**
  * A parser for documents
  */
 public final class DocumentParser {
 
+    public static final IndexVersion DYNAMICALLY_MAP_DENSE_VECTORS_INDEX_VERSION = IndexVersion.V_8_11_0;
+
     private final XContentParserConfiguration parserConfiguration;
     private final Supplier<DocumentParsingObserver> documentParsingObserverSupplier;
     private final MappingParserContext mappingParserContext;
@@ -244,9 +250,8 @@ static Mapping createDynamicUpdate(DocumentParserContext context) {
             return null;
         }
         RootObjectMapper.Builder rootBuilder = context.updateRoot();
-        for (Mapper mapper : context.getDynamicMappers()) {
-            rootBuilder.addDynamic(mapper.name(), null, mapper, context);
-        }
+        context.getDynamicMappers().forEach(mapper -> rootBuilder.addDynamic(mapper.name(), null, mapper, context));
+
         for (RuntimeField runtimeField : context.getDynamicRuntimeFields()) {
             rootBuilder.addRuntimeField(runtimeField);
         }
@@ -588,6 +593,33 @@ private static void parseNonDynamicArray(DocumentParserContext context, final St
                 parseValue(context, lastFieldName);
             }
         }
+        postProcessDynamicArrayMapping(context, lastFieldName);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Arrays that have been classified as floats and meet specific criteria are re-mapped to dense_vector.
+     */
+    private static void postProcessDynamicArrayMapping(DocumentParserContext context, String fieldName) {
+        if (context.indexSettings().getIndexVersionCreated().onOrAfter(DYNAMICALLY_MAP_DENSE_VECTORS_INDEX_VERSION)) {
+            final MapperBuilderContext builderContext = context.createDynamicMapperBuilderContext();
+            final String fullFieldName = builderContext.buildFullName(fieldName);
+            final List<Mapper> mappers = context.getDynamicMappers(fullFieldName);
+            if (mappers == null
+                || context.isFieldAppliedFromTemplate(fullFieldName)
+                || context.isCopyToField(fullFieldName)
+                || mappers.size() < MIN_DIMS_FOR_DYNAMIC_FLOAT_MAPPING
+                || mappers.size() > MAX_DIMS_COUNT
+                || mappers.stream().allMatch(m -> m instanceof NumberFieldMapper && "float".equals(m.typeName())) == false) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            DenseVectorFieldMapper.Builder builder = new DenseVectorFieldMapper.Builder(
+                fieldName,
+                context.indexSettings().getIndexVersionCreated()
+            );
+            DenseVectorFieldMapper denseVectorFieldMapper = builder.build(builderContext);
+            context.updateDynamicMappers(fullFieldName, List.of(denseVectorFieldMapper));
+        }
     }
 
     private static void throwEOFOnParseArray(String arrayFieldName, DocumentParserContext context) {
@@ -677,6 +709,7 @@ private static void parseCopyFields(DocumentParserContext context, List<String>
             assert targetDoc != null;
             final DocumentParserContext copyToContext = context.createCopyToContext(field, targetDoc);
             innerParseObject(copyToContext);
+            context.markFieldAsCopyTo(field);
         }
     }
 

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParserContext.java

@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ protected void addDoc(LuceneDocument doc) {
     private final MappingParserContext mappingParserContext;
     private final SourceToParse sourceToParse;
     private final Set<String> ignoredFields;
-    private final List<Mapper> dynamicMappers;
+    private final Map<String, List<Mapper>> dynamicMappers;
     private final Set<String> newFieldsSeen;
     private final Map<String, ObjectMapper> dynamicObjectMappers;
     private final List<RuntimeField> dynamicRuntimeFields;
@@ -94,13 +94,15 @@ protected void addDoc(LuceneDocument doc) {
     private String id;
     private Field version;
     private SeqNoFieldMapper.SequenceIDFields seqID;
+    private final Set<String> fieldsAppliedFromTemplates;
+    private final Set<String> copyToFields;
 
     private DocumentParserContext(
         MappingLookup mappingLookup,
         MappingParserContext mappingParserContext,
         SourceToParse sourceToParse,
         Set<String> ignoreFields,
-        List<Mapper> dynamicMappers,
+        Map<String, List<Mapper>> dynamicMappers,
         Set<String> newFieldsSeen,
         Map<String, ObjectMapper> dynamicObjectMappers,
         List<RuntimeField> dynamicRuntimeFields,
@@ -109,7 +111,9 @@ private DocumentParserContext(
         SeqNoFieldMapper.SequenceIDFields seqID,
         DocumentDimensions dimensions,
         ObjectMapper parent,
-        ObjectMapper.Dynamic dynamic
+        ObjectMapper.Dynamic dynamic,
+        Set<String> fieldsAppliedFromTemplates,
+        Set<String> copyToFields
     ) {
         this.mappingLookup = mappingLookup;
         this.mappingParserContext = mappingParserContext;
@@ -125,6 +129,8 @@ private DocumentParserContext(
         this.dimensions = dimensions;
         this.parent = parent;
         this.dynamic = dynamic;
+        this.fieldsAppliedFromTemplates = fieldsAppliedFromTemplates;
+        this.copyToFields = copyToFields;
     }
 
     private DocumentParserContext(ObjectMapper parent, ObjectMapper.Dynamic dynamic, DocumentParserContext in) {
@@ -142,7 +148,9 @@ private DocumentParserContext(ObjectMapper parent, ObjectMapper.Dynamic dynamic,
             in.seqID,
             in.dimensions,
             parent,
-            dynamic
+            dynamic,
+            in.fieldsAppliedFromTemplates,
+            in.copyToFields
         );
     }
 
@@ -158,7 +166,7 @@ protected DocumentParserContext(
             mappingParserContext,
             source,
             new HashSet<>(),
-            new ArrayList<>(),
+            new HashMap<>(),
             new HashSet<>(),
             new HashMap<>(),
             new ArrayList<>(),
@@ -167,7 +175,9 @@ protected DocumentParserContext(
             null,
             DocumentDimensions.fromIndexSettings(mappingParserContext.getIndexSettings()),
             parent,
-            dynamic
+            dynamic,
+            new HashSet<>(),
+            new HashSet<>()
         );
     }
 
@@ -275,6 +285,22 @@ public ObjectMapper.Dynamic dynamic() {
         return dynamic;
     }
 
+    public void markFieldAsAppliedFromTemplate(String fieldName) {
+        fieldsAppliedFromTemplates.add(fieldName);
+    }
+
+    public boolean isFieldAppliedFromTemplate(String name) {
+        return fieldsAppliedFromTemplates.contains(name);
+    }
+
+    public void markFieldAsCopyTo(String fieldName) {
+        copyToFields.add(fieldName);
+    }
+
+    public boolean isCopyToField(String name) {
+        return copyToFields.contains(name);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Add a new mapper dynamically created while parsing.
      */
@@ -283,6 +309,7 @@ public final void addDynamicMapper(Mapper mapper) {
         if (mapper instanceof ObjectMapper) {
             MappingLookup.checkObjectDepthLimit(indexSettings().getMappingDepthLimit(), mapper.name());
         }
+
         // eagerly check field name limit here to avoid OOM errors
         // only check fields that are not already mapped or tracked in order to avoid hitting field limit too early via double-counting
         // note that existing fields can also receive dynamic mapping updates (e.g. constant_keyword to fix the value)
@@ -302,23 +329,39 @@ public final void addDynamicMapper(Mapper mapper) {
                 addDynamicMapper(submapper);
             }
         }
+
         // TODO we may want to stop adding object mappers to the dynamic mappers list: most times they will be mapped when parsing their
         // sub-fields (see ObjectMapper.Builder#addDynamic), which causes extra work as the two variants of the same object field
         // will be merged together when creating the final dynamic update. The only cases where object fields need extra treatment are
         // dynamically mapped objects when the incoming document defines no sub-fields in them:
         // 1) by default, they would be empty containers in the mappings, is it then important to map them?
         // 2) they can be the result of applying a dynamic template which may define sub-fields or set dynamic, enabled or subobjects.
-        dynamicMappers.add(mapper);
+        dynamicMappers.computeIfAbsent(mapper.name(), k -> new ArrayList<>()).add(mapper);
     }
 
     /**
      * Get dynamic mappers created as a result of parsing an incoming document. Responsible for exposing all the newly created
      * fields that need to be merged into the existing mappings. Used to create the required mapping update at the end of document parsing.
-     * Consists of a flat set of {@link Mapper}s that will need to be added to their respective parent {@link ObjectMapper}s in order
+     * Consists of a all {@link Mapper}s that will need to be added to their respective parent {@link ObjectMapper}s in order
      * to become part of the resulting dynamic mapping update.
      */
     public final List<Mapper> getDynamicMappers() {
-        return dynamicMappers;
+        return dynamicMappers.values().stream().flatMap(List::stream).toList();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the dynamic Consists of a flat set of {@link Mapper}s associated with a field name that will need to be added to their
+     * respective parent {@link ObjectMapper}s in order to become part of the resulting dynamic mapping update.
+     * @param fieldName Full field name with dot-notation.
+     * @return List of Mappers or null
+     */
+    public final List<Mapper> getDynamicMappers(String fieldName) {
+        return dynamicMappers.get(fieldName);
+    }
+
+    public void updateDynamicMappers(String name, List<Mapper> mappers) {
+        dynamicMappers.remove(name);
+        mappers.forEach(this::addDynamicMapper);
     }
 
     /**

server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DynamicFieldsBuilder.java

@@ -208,7 +208,9 @@ private static void createDynamicField(
         DateFormatter dateFormatter,
         CheckedRunnable<IOException> dynamicFieldStrategy
     ) throws IOException {
-        if (applyMatchingTemplate(context, name, matchType, dateFormatter) == false) {
+        if (applyMatchingTemplate(context, name, matchType, dateFormatter)) {
+            context.markFieldAsAppliedFromTemplate(name);
+        } else {
             dynamicFieldStrategy.run();
         }
     }