---
title: Batch Operations
slug: guides/batching
public: true
category: guides
template: guide
order: 5
description: Eliminate N+1 query patterns with batchGet() and storage-level batch APIs for fast multi-entity reads against filesystem and memory storage.
next:
  - api/reference
  - guides/find-system
---

# Batch Operations API
> **Production-Ready** | Zero N+1 Query Patterns

## Overview

Brainy provides batch operations at the storage layer to eliminate N+1 query patterns for VFS operations, relationship queries, and entity retrieval.

### Problem Solved

The naive pattern of looping and calling `brain.get(id)` once per item issues sequential reads through the storage layer. Batched APIs collapse that into a single read pass.

**IMPORTANT:** The batch optimizations apply **ONLY to `getTreeStructure()`** at the VFS layer and the explicit `batchGet()` / `getNounMetadataBatch()` calls — not to `readFile()` or individual `get()` operations.

---

## New Public APIs

### 1. `brain.batchGet(ids, options?)`

Batch retrieval of multiple entities (metadata-only by default).

```typescript
// Fetch multiple entities in a single batched operation
const ids = ['id1', 'id2', 'id3']
const results: Map<string, Entity> = await brain.batchGet(ids)

// With vectors (falls back to individual gets)
const resultsWithVectors = await brain.batchGet(ids, { includeVectors: true })

// Results map
results.get('id1') // → Entity or undefined
results.size // → 3 (number of found entities)
```

**Performance:**
- Memory storage: Instant (parallel reads)
- Filesystem storage: Parallel reads, scales with available IOPS

**Use Cases:**
- Loading multiple entities for display
- Bulk data export operations
- Relationship traversal (fetch all connected entities)

---

## Storage-Level APIs

### 2. `storage.getNounMetadataBatch(ids)`

Batch metadata retrieval with direct O(1) path construction.

```typescript
const storage = brain.storage as BaseStorage
const ids = ['id1', 'id2', 'id3']

const metadataMap: Map<string, NounMetadata> = await storage.getNounMetadataBatch(ids)

for (const [id, metadata] of metadataMap) {
 console.log(metadata.noun) // Type: 'document', 'person', etc.
 console.log(metadata.data) // Entity data
}
```

**Features:**
- ✅ Direct O(1) path construction from ID (no type lookup needed!)
- ✅ Sharding preservation (all paths include `{shard}/{id}`)
- ✅ Write-cache coherent (read-after-write consistency)
- ✅ O(1) path construction — eliminates the per-entity type search of the old type-first layout

**Performance:**
- Constant-time path construction per ID — no type-cache misses
- Filesystem: parallel reads bounded by IOPS
- No type search delays — every ID maps directly to storage path

---

### 3. `storage.getVerbsBySourceBatch(sourceIds, verbType?)`

Batch relationship queries by source entity IDs.

```typescript
const storage = brain.storage as BaseStorage

// Get all relationships from multiple sources
const results: Map<string, GraphVerb[]> = await storage.getVerbsBySourceBatch([
 'person1',
 'person2'
])

// Filter by verb type
const createsResults = await storage.getVerbsBySourceBatch(
 ['person1', 'person2'],
 'creates'
)

// Process results
for (const [sourceId, verbs] of results) {
 console.log(`${sourceId} has ${verbs.length} relationships`)
 verbs.forEach(verb => {
 console.log(` → ${verb.verb} → ${verb.targetId}`)
 })
}
```

**Use Cases:**
- Social graph traversal (fetch all connections for multiple users)
- Knowledge graph queries (find all relationships of specific type)
- Bulk export of relationship data

**Performance:**
- Memory storage: single in-memory pass over the metadata index
- Filesystem storage: parallel reads through the metadata index

---

## VFS Integration

VFS operations automatically use batch APIs for maximum performance.

### Directory Traversal

```typescript
// Tree traversal uses batched reads under the hood
const tree = await brain.vfs.getTreeStructure('/my-dir')
// ✅ PathResolver.getChildren() uses brain.batchGet() internally
// ✅ Parallel traversal of directories at the same tree level
// ✅ 2-3 batched calls instead of 22 sequential calls
```

**Architecture:**

```
VFS.getTreeStructure()
 ↓ PARALLEL (breadth-first traversal)
 → PathResolver.getChildren() [all dirs at level processed in parallel]
 ↓ BATCHED
 → brain.batchGet(childIds) [1 call instead of N]
 ↓ BATCHED
 → storage.getNounMetadataBatch(ids) [1 call instead of N]
 ↓ ADAPTER
 → Filesystem: Promise.all() parallel reads
 → Memory: Promise.all() parallel reads
```

---

## Advanced Features Compatibility

### ✅ ID-First Storage Architecture

All batch operations use direct ID-first paths - no type lookup needed!

**ID-First Path Structure:**
```
entities/nouns/{SHARD}/{ID}/metadata.json
entities/verbs/{SHARD}/{ID}/metadata.json
```

**Direct O(1) Path Construction:**
```typescript
// Every ID maps directly to exactly ONE path - O(1), no type search
const id = 'abc-123'
const shard = getShardIdFromUuid(id) // → 'ab' (first 2 hex chars)
const path = `entities/nouns/${shard}/${id}/metadata.json`

// No type cache needed!
// No type search needed!
// No multi-type fallback needed!
// Just pure O(1) lookup!
```

**Benefits:**
- **O(1)** path lookups (eliminates the 42-type sequential search the old type-first layout required)
- **Simpler code** - removed 500+ lines of type cache complexity
- **Scalable** - works at large scale without type tracking overhead

---

### ✅ Sharding

All batch paths include shard IDs calculated via `getShardIdFromUuid(id)`:

```typescript
const id = 'a3c4e5f7-...'
const shard = getShardIdFromUuid(id) // → 'a3' (first 2 hex chars)
const path = `entities/nouns/${shard}/${id}/metadata.json`
```

**Distribution:** 256 shards (00-ff) for optimal load distribution.

---

### ✅ Generational MVCC (8.0)

Batch reads always serve the **live** generation through the fast paths
shown above. Point-in-time reads go through the Db API instead: a pinned
`Db` (`brain.now()`, `brain.asOf()`) resolves changed ids from immutable
generation records and unchanged ids from the same live paths batch reads
use — see the [consistency model](concepts/consistency-model.md).

```typescript
const db = brain.now()                       // pinned view
const entity = await db.get(id)              // correct at the pinned generation
const results = await brain.batchGet(ids)    // live state, batched
await db.release()
```

---

## Why Batching Is Faster

Batching's advantage is structural, not a fixed multiplier (the actual speedup
depends on storage backend, IOPS, and batch size):

- **N+1 elimination** — N sequential reads collapse into a single parallel pass
  (`Promise.all` over the batch).
- **O(1) path construction** — every ID maps directly to one storage path, with
  no per-type cache lookup.
- **One metadata round-trip** — relationship batches fetch all sources' metadata
  in a single pass instead of one query per source.

The integration test `tests/integration/storage-batch-operations.test.ts`
exercises batch vs. individual reads and asserts that batch retrieval is not
slower than the per-entity loop for large batches; it does not pin a specific
multiplier, since that is hardware- and IOPS-dependent.

---

## Error Handling

### Partial Batch Failures

Batch operations gracefully handle missing or invalid entities:

```typescript
const validId = 'abc-123-...'
const invalidIds = [
 '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111',
 '22222222-2222-2222-2222-222222222222'
]

const results = await brain.batchGet([validId, ...invalidIds])

results.size // → 1 (only valid entity)
results.has(validId) // → true
results.has(invalidIds[0]) // → false (silently skipped)
```

**Behavior:**
- Invalid UUIDs: Silently skipped (not included in results)
- Missing entities: Silently skipped (not included in results)
- Storage errors: Logged, entity excluded from results
- No exceptions thrown for partial failures

### Empty Batches

```typescript
const results = await brain.batchGet([])
results.size // → 0 (empty map)
```

### Duplicate IDs

```typescript
const results = await brain.batchGet(['id1', 'id1', 'id1'])
results.size // → 1 (deduplicated automatically)
```

---

## Migration Guide

### From Individual Gets

**Before:**
```typescript
const entities = []
for (const id of ids) {
 const entity = await brain.get(id)
 if (entity) entities.push(entity)
}
```

**After:**
```typescript
const results = await brain.batchGet(ids)
const entities = Array.from(results.values())
```

**Performance Gain:** Replaces N sequential reads with a single batched pass — no fixed multiplier, it scales with storage IOPS.

---

### From Individual Relationship Queries

**Before:**
```typescript
const allVerbs = []
for (const sourceId of sourceIds) {
 const verbs = await brain.related({ from: sourceId })
 allVerbs.push(...verbs)
}
```

**After:**
```typescript
const storage = brain.storage as BaseStorage
const results = await storage.getVerbsBySourceBatch(sourceIds)

const allVerbs = []
for (const verbs of results.values()) {
 allVerbs.push(...verbs)
}
```

**Performance Gain:** One batched metadata fetch instead of one query per source entity.

---

## Best Practices

### 1. **Use Batching for Multiple Entity Operations**

```typescript
// ✅ GOOD: Batch fetch
const results = await brain.batchGet(ids)

// ❌ BAD: Individual gets in loop
for (const id of ids) {
 await brain.get(id)
}
```

### 2. **Batch Size Recommendations**

| Storage | Optimal Batch Size | Max Batch Size |
|---------|--------------------|----------------|
| **Memory** | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| **Filesystem** | 100-500 | 1000 |

**Guideline:** For batches >1000, split into chunks of 500-1000.

### 3. **Metadata-Only by Default**

```typescript
// Default: Metadata-only (fast)
const results = await brain.batchGet(ids) // No vectors

// Only load vectors if needed
const withVectors = await brain.batchGet(ids, { includeVectors: true })
```

### 4. **Error Handling**

```typescript
// Batch operations never throw for missing entities
const results = await brain.batchGet(ids)

// Check results
for (const id of ids) {
 if (results.has(id)) {
 // Entity exists
 const entity = results.get(id)
 } else {
 // Entity missing (not an error)
 console.log(`Entity ${id} not found`)
 }
}
```

---

## Testing

Comprehensive test coverage in `tests/integration/storage-batch-operations.test.ts`:

```bash
npx vitest run tests/integration/storage-batch-operations.test.ts
```

**Test Coverage:**
- ✅ brain.batchGet() high-level API
- ✅ storage.getNounMetadataBatch() with ID-first paths
- ✅ COW integration (branch isolation, inheritance)
- ✅ storage.getVerbsBySourceBatch() relationship queries
- ✅ VFS integration (PathResolver.getChildren())
- ✅ Performance benchmarks (N+1 elimination)
- ✅ Error handling (partial failures, empty batches, duplicates)
- ✅ ID-first storage verification
- ✅ Sharding preservation

**Results:** 23 tests passing ✅

---

## Implementation Details

### Architecture Layers

```
User Code (brain.batchGet)
 ↓
High-Level API (src/brainy.ts)
 ↓
Storage Layer (src/storage/baseStorage.ts)
 ↓
Adapter Layer (readBatchFromAdapter)
 ↓
Storage Adapter (FileSystemStorage / MemoryStorage)
```

### Parallel Reads

Both shipped adapters fall back to `Promise.all` over individual reads:

```typescript
// BaseStorage.readBatchFromAdapter()
return await Promise.all(resolvedPaths.map(path => this.read(path)))
```

**Shipped Adapters:**
- MemoryStorage
- FileSystemStorage

---

## API Summary

- `brain.batchGet(ids, options?)` - High-level batch entity retrieval
- `storage.getNounMetadataBatch(ids)` - Storage-level metadata batch
- `storage.getVerbsBySourceBatch(sourceIds, verbType?)` - Batch relationship queries

**Performance Improvements:**
- VFS operations: single batched pass instead of N sequential reads
- Entity retrieval: N+1 reads collapsed into one batched pass
- Zero N+1 query patterns

**Compatibility:**
- ✅ ID-first storage
- ✅ Sharding (256 shards)
- ✅ Generational MVCC — batch reads serve the live generation; pinned `Db` views serve the past
- ✅ All indexes respected (vector, metadata, graph adjacency)

---

## Support

- **Documentation:** `/docs/BATCHING.md`, `/docs/PERFORMANCE.md`
- **Tests:** `/tests/integration/storage-batch-operations.test.ts`
- **Issues:** https://github.com/soulcraft/brainy/issues
- **Discussions:** https://github.com/soulcraft/brainy/discussions

---

**Built with ❤️ for enterprise-scale knowledge graphs**
