Immich v3 fails after pgvecto-rs -> VectorChord migration, database still contains vectors.vector(512)

[gijs-bu]

I have searched the existing issues, both open and closed, to make sure this is not a duplicate report.

• Yes

The bug

Description:

Environment:

• Unraid
• Immich (Imagegenius container)
• PostgreSQL 16.8
• Original database: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg16-v0.2.0
• Attempted migration to: ghcr.io/immich-app/postgres:16-vectorchord1.1.1-pgvector0.8.5

Problem:

After upgrading Immich, server startup fails with:

Error: No vector extension found. Available extensions: vchord, vector

After migrating to the official postgres container and installing:

CREATE EXTENSION vector;
CREATE EXTENSION vchord CASCADE;

Immich now fails with:

PostgresError: could not access file "$libdir/vectors": No such file or directory

Database details:

SELECT extname, extversion FROM pg_extension;

cube 1.5
earthdistance 1.2
pg_trgm 1.6
plpgsql 1.0
unaccent 1.1
uuid-ossp 1.1
vchord 1.1.1
vector 0.8.5
vectors 0.2.0

Table definitions:

face_search:

embedding vectors.vector(512)

Index:

face_index vectors (embedding vector_cos_ops)

smart_search:

embedding vectors.vector(512)

Index:

clip_index vectors (embedding vector_cos_ops)

Counts:

asset: 35332
asset_face: 51783
face_search: 51756
smart_search: 34915
person: 1884

Migration state:

Database contains migration 200 (AddMissingIndex1744910873956).

Migration overrides contain:

CREATE INDEX "face_index"
ON "face_search"
USING hnsw (embedding vector_cosine_ops)

which appears to expect pgvector instead of vectors.vector.

Question:

What is the supported migration path for an existing pgvecto-rs 0.2.0 database where face_search and smart_search still use vectors.vector(512)?

The OS that Immich Server is running on

Unraid

Version of Immich Server

latest

Version of Immich Mobile App

3.0.3.

Platform with the issue

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

Device make and model

No response

Your docker-compose.yml content

I am using Unraid with the Imagegenius Immich container, not Docker Compose.

Immich container:
ghcr.io/imagegenius/immich:latest

Original database container:
tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg16-v0.2.0

Attempted migration database container:
ghcr.io/immich-app/postgres:16-vectorchord1.1.1-pgvector0.8.5

Database port:
5433

PostgreSQL version:
16.8

This deployment is managed through Unraid Docker templates instead of docker-compose.

Host OS: Unraid

Photos/assets:
35332

Faces:
51783

Persons:
1884

Database state:
face_search.embedding = vectors.vector(512)
smart_search.embedding = vectors.vector(512)

Current error:
could not access file "$libdir/vectors": No such file or directory

Your .env content

Not using Docker Compose.

Environment variables:

DB_HOSTNAME=<UNRAID_IP>
DB_PORT=5433
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_DATABASE_NAME=immich

Deployment:
- Unraid
- ghcr.io/imagegenius/immich:latest
- Original database: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg16-v0.2.0
- Migration target: ghcr.io/immich-app/postgres:16-vectorchord1.1.1-pgvector0.8.5

Reproduction steps

1. Run Immich with PostgreSQL 16 and pgvecto-rs (tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg16-v0.2.0).

2. Upgrade Immich to the latest Imagegenius release on Unraid.

3. Immich fails with:
   "No vector extension found. Available extensions: vchord, vector"

4. Start a PostgreSQL container using:
   ghcr.io/immich-app/postgres:16-vectorchord1.1.1-pgvector0.8.5

5. Mount the existing database directory.

6. Install extensions:
   CREATE EXTENSION vector;
   CREATE EXTENSION vchord CASCADE;

7. Start Immich again.

8. Immich now fails with:
   PostgresError: could not access file "$libdir/vectors": No such file or directory

9. Inspection shows that the following tables still use pgvecto-rs types:

   face_search.embedding -> vectors.vector(512)
   smart_search.embedding -> vectors.vector(512)

10. Existing indexes still use the vectors access method:

face_index
clip_index

Relevant log output

Additional information

No response

[ThomasHineXYZ]

Same thing is happening to me