# Modules

<!-- :::caution Migrated From:
- Combines theoretical explanations from `Configuration/Modules` + `Modules/Index`. e.g.:
  - `Introduction` is from `Configuration/Modules`
  - `Vectorization modules (Dense Retriever modules)` is from `Modules/Index`
::: -->

Weaviate has a modularized structure. Functionality such as vectorization or backups is handled by _optional_ modules.

The core of Weaviate, without any modules attached, is a pure vector-native database.
[![Weaviate modules introduction](/assets/docs/weaviate/concepts/img/weaviate-module-diagram.svg "Weaviate Module Diagram")](/assets/docs/weaviate/concepts/img/weaviate-module-diagram.svg)

Data is stored in Weaviate as the combination of an object and its vector, and these vectors are searchable by the provided [vector index algorithm](../indexing/vector-index.md). Without any vectorizer modules attached, Weaviate does not know how to _vectorize_ an object, i.e. _how_ to calculate the vectors given an object.

Depending on the type of data you want to store and search (text, images, etc.), and depending on the use case (like search, question answering, etc., depending on language, classification, ML model, training set, etc.), you can choose and attach a vectorizer module that best fits your use case. Or, you can "bring your own" vectors to Weaviate.

This page explains what modules are, and what purpose they serve in Weaviate.

## Available module types

This graphic displays the available modules for the latest Weaviate version (1.38.2) . Modules are grouped into these categories:

- Vectorization modules
- Vectorization and additional functionality modules
- Other modules

![Weaviate module ecosystem](/assets/docs/weaviate/concepts/img/weaviate-modules.png "Weaviate module ecosystem")

### Vectorizer & Ranker modules

Vectorizer modules, like the `text2vec-*`, `multi2vec-*` or `img2vec-*` modules, transform data into vectors. Ranker modules, like the `rerank-*` modules, rank the results.

### Reader & Generator modules

Reader or Generator modules can be used on top of a Vectorizer module. These modules take the set of relevant documents that are retrieved, and performs another operation, such as question answering, or a generative task. An example Reader module is [`qna-transformers`](../modules/qna-transformers.md) module, which extracts an answer directly from a document. A Generator module would, on the other hand, use _language generation_ to generate an answer from the given document.

### Other modules

These include those such as `backup-gcs` or `text-spellcheck`.

## Dependencies

Modules can be dependent on other modules to be present. For example, to use the [`qna-transformers`](../modules/qna-transformers.md) module, _exactly one_ text vectorization module is required.

## Weaviate without modules

Weaviate can also be used without any modules, as pure vector native database and search engine. If you choose not to include any modules, you will need to enter a vector for each data entry. You can then search through the objects by a vector as well.

## Custom modules

It is possible for anyone to create a custom module for use with Weaviate. Click [here](../modules/custom-modules.md) to see how you can create and use your own modules.

## Further resources

:::callout{intent="info" title="Related pages"}
- [Configuration: Modules](../how-to-configure-weaviate/modules.md)
- [References: Modules](../modules/index.md)
:::

## Questions and feedback

Have a question or feedback? Here's how to reach us.

::::card-grid
:::card{title="Community Forum" href="https://forum.weaviate.io/c/support" icon="messages-square"}
Ask questions and connect with other developers on our **Community forum**.
:::

:::card{title="Support" href="/guides/support-overview" icon="life-buoy"}
Weaviate Cloud user or customer? Find the right channel on the **Support page**.
:::
::::

## Related pages

- [Agents](./agents-index.md)
- [AI-assisted Weaviate code generation](./ai-assisted-vibe-coding-index.md)
- [APIs](./apis-index.md)
- [Authorization and authentication](./authorization-and-authentication-index.md)
- [Benchmarks](./benchmarks-index.md)
- [Best practices](./best-practices-index.md)
- [Client libraries](./clients-index.md)
- [Client Libraries / SDKs](./client-libraries-index.md)
- [Cloud](./cloud-index.md)
- [Cloud account management](./cloud-account-management-index.md)

# Agent Instructions

This portal answers questions programmatically. To receive a synthesized,
source-cited answer instead of crawling page by page, append the `?ask=`
query parameter to any page URL on this site:

    /guides/quickstart?ask=how+do+I+authenticate

Optional parameters:

- `&goal=<what-you-are-trying-to-do>` steers the answer toward your
  objective (e.g. `&goal=write+a+python+client`).
- `&version=<label>` scopes the answer to a mounted version when the
  portal publishes more than one.

The response is `text/markdown`: the answer followed by a `# Sources` list
of the portal pages it was grounded in. Status codes are the contract:

- `200` — the answer; `402` — the portal owner’s plan or answer credits are
  exhausted (surface this to your operator; do NOT retry); `429` — you are
  rate-limited; back off for the `Retry-After` seconds; `503` — the answer
  lane is temporarily unavailable; fall back to crawling the `.md` pages.

For the full corpus map read `llms.txt` at the site root; for the tool
surface (search + page fetch as MCP tools) see `/mcp`.