Spice v1.6.0 (Aug 26, 2025)
Announcing the release of Spice v1.6.0! 🔥
Spice 1.6.0 upgrades DataFusion to v48, reducing expressions memory footprint by ~50% for faster planning and lower memory usage, eliminating unnecessary projections in queries, optimizing string functions like ascii and character_length for up to 3x speedup, and accelerating unbounded aggregate window functions by 5.6x. The release adds Kafka and MongoDB connectors for real-time streaming and NoSQL data acceleration, supports OpenAI Responses API for advanced model interactions including OpenAI-hosted tools like web_search and code_interpreter, improves the OpenAI Embeddings Connector with usage tier configuration for higher throughput via increased concurrent requests, introduces Model2Vec embeddings for ultra-low-latency encoding, and improves the Amazon S3 Vectors engine to support multi-column primary keys.
What's New in v1.6.0
DataFusion v48 Highlights
Spice.ai is built on the DataFusion query engine. The v48 release brings:
Performance & Size Improvements 🚀: Expressions memory footprint was reduced by ~50% resulting in faster planning and lower memory usage, with planning times improved by 10-20%. There are now fewer unnecessary projections in queries. The string functions, ascii and character_length were optimized for improved performance, with character_length achieving up to 3x speedup. Queries with unbounded aggregate window functions have improved performance by 5.6 times via avoided unnecessary computation for constant results across partitions. The Expr struct size was reduced from 272 to 144 bytes.
New Features & Enhancements ✨: Support was added for ORDER BY ALL for easy ordering of all columns in a query.
See the Apache DataFusion 48.0.0 Blog for details.
Runtime Highlights
Amazon S3 Vectors Multi-Column Primary Keys: The Amazon S3 Vectors engine now supports datasets with multi-column primary keys. This enables vector indexes for datasets where more than one column forms the primary key, such as those splitting documents into chunks for retrieval contexts. For multi-column keys, Spice serializes the keys using arrow-json format, storing them as single string keys in the vector index.
Model2Vec Embeddings: Spice now supports model2vec static embeddings with a new model2vec embeddings provider, for sentence transformers up to 500x faster and 15x smaller, enabling scenarios requiring low latency and high-throughput encoding.
embeddings:
- from: model2vec:minishlab/potion-base-8M # HuggingFace model
name: potion
- from: model2vec:path/to/my/local/model # local model
name: local
Learn more in the Model2Dev Embeddings documentation.
Kafka Data Connector: Use from: kafka:<topic> to ingest data directly from Kafka topics for integration with existing Kafka-based event streaming infrastructure, providing real-time data acceleration and query without additional middleware.
Example Spicepod.yml:
- from: kafka:orders_events
name: orders
acceleration:
enabled: true
refresh_mode: append
params:
kafka_bootstrap_servers: server:9092
Learn more in the Kafka Data Connector documentation.
MongoDB Data Connector: Use from: mongodb:<dataset> to access and accelerate data stored in MongoDB, deployed on-premises or in the cloud.
Example spicepod.yml:
datasets:
- from: mongodb:my_dataset
name: my_dataset
params:
mongodb_host: localhost
mongodb_db: my_database
mongodb_user: my_user
mongodb_pass: password
Learn more in the MongoDB Data Connector documentation.
OpenAI Responses API Support: The OpenAI Responses API (/v1/responses) is now supported, which is OpenAI's most advanced interface for generating model responses.
To enable the /v1/responses HTTP endpoint, set the responses_api parameter to enabled:
Example spicepod.yml:
models:
- name: openai_model_using_responses_api
from: openai:gpt-4.1
params:
openai_api_key: ${ secrets:OPENAI_API_KEY }
responses_api: enabled # Enable the /v1/responses endpoint for this model
Example curl request:
curl http://localhost:8090/v1/responses \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "gpt-4.1",
"input": "Tell me a three sentence bedtime story about Spice AI."
}'
To use responses in spice chat, use the --responses flag.
Example:
spice chat --responses # Use the `/v1/responses` endpoint for all completions instead of `/v1/chat/completions`
Use OpenAI-hosted tools supported by Open AI's Responses API by specifying the openai_responses_tools parameter:
Example spicepod.yml:
models:
- name: test
from: openai:gpt-4.1
params:
openai_api_key: ${ secrets:SPICE_OPENAI_API_KEY }
tools: sql, list_datasets
responses_api: enabled
openai_responses_tools: web_search, code_interpreter # 'code_interpreter' or 'web_search'
These OpenAI-specific tools are only available from the /v1/responses endpoint. Any other tools specified via the tools parameter are available from both the /v1/chat/completions and /v1/responses endpoints.
Learn more in the OpenAI Model Provider documentation.
OpenAI Embeddings & Models Connectors Usage Tier: The OpenAI Embeddings and Models Connectors now supports specifying account usage tier for embeddings and model requests, improving the performance of generating text embeddings or calling models during dataset load and search by increasing concurrent requests.
Example spicepod.yml:
embeddings:
- from: openai:text-embedding-3-small
name: openai_embed
params:
openai_usage_tier: tier1
By setting the usage tier to the matching usage tier for your OpenAI account, the Embeddings and Models Connector will increase the maximum number of concurrent requests to match the specified tier.
Learn more in the OpenAI Model Provider documentation.
Contributors
- @Jeadie
- @peasee
- @sgrebnov
- @Sevenannn
- @kczimm
- @phillipleblanc
- @Advayp
- @lukekim
- @ewgenius
- @mach-kernel
- @krinart
New Contributors
- @krinart made their first contribution in github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/6573
Breaking Changes
No breaking changes.
Cookbook Updates
- Added OpenAI Responses API - Use OpenAI's Responses API with Spice
- Added Live Orders Analytics with Apache Kafka Data Connector - Combine real-time data streaming from Kafka with other datasets
- Added MongoDB Data Connector - Use MongoDB as a data source with Spice
The Spice Cookbook includes 77 recipes to help you get started with Spice quickly and easily.
Upgrading
To upgrade to v1.6.0, use one of the following methods:
CLI:
spice upgrade
Homebrew:
brew upgrade spiceai/spiceai/spice
Docker:
Pull the spiceai/spiceai:1.6.0 image:
docker pull spiceai/spiceai:1.6.0
For available tags, see DockerHub.
Helm:
helm repo update
helm upgrade spiceai spiceai/spiceai
AWS Marketplace:
🎉 Spice is also now available in the AWS Marketplace!
What's Changed
Dependencies
- DataFusion: Upgraded to v48
- Rust: Upgraded from 1.86.0 to 1.87.0
Changelog
- Support Streaming with Tool Calls (#6941) by @Advayp in #6941
- Fix parameterized query planning in DataFusion (#6942) by @Jeadie in #6942
- Update the UnableToLoadCredentials error with a pointer to docs (#6937) by @phillipleblanc in #6937
- Fix spicecloud benchmark (#6935) by @krinart in #6935
- [Debezium] Support for VariableScaleDecimal (#6934) by @krinart in #6934
- Update to DF 48 (#6665) by @mach-kernel and @kczimm in #6665
- Mark append-stream and CDC datasets as ready after first message (#6914) by @sgrebnov in #6914
- Model2Vec embedding model support (#6846) by @mach-kernel in #6846
- Update snapshot for S3 vector search test (#6920) by @Jeadie in #6920
- remove [] from queryset in spicepod path for CI (#6919) by @Jeadie in #6919
- Remove verbose tracing (#6915) by @Jeadie in #6915
- Refactor how models supporting the Responses API are loaded (#6912) by @Advayp in #6912
- Write tests for truncate formatting in
arrow_toolsand fix bug. (#6900) by @Jeadie in #6900 - Support using the Responses API from
spice chat(#6894) by @Advayp in #6894 - Include GPT-5 into Text-To-SQL and Financebench benchmarks (#6907) by @sgrebnov in #6907
- Better error message when credentials aren't loaded for S3 Vectors (#6910) by @phillipleblanc in #6910
- Add tracing and system prompt support for the Responses API (#6893) by @Advayp in #6893
- Constraint violation check is improved to control behavior when violations occur within a batch (#6897) by @phillipleblanc in #6897
- fix: Multi-column text search with v1/search (#6905) by @peasee in #6905
- fix: Correctly project text search primary keys to underlying projection (#6904) by @peasee in #6904
- fix: Update benchmark snapshots (#6901) by @app/github-actions in #6901
- In S3vector, do not pushdown on non-filterable columns (#6884) by @Jeadie in #6884
- Run E2E Test CI macOS build on bigger runners (#6896) by @phillipleblanc in #6896
- Enable configuration of the Responses API for the Azure model provider (#6891) by @Advayp in #6891
- fix: Update benchmark snapshots (#6888) by @app/github-actions in #6888
- Update OpenAPI specification for
/v1/responses(#6889) by @Advayp in #6889 - Add test to ensure tools are injected correctly in the Responses API (#6886) by @Advayp in #6886
- Enable embeddings for append streams (#6878) by @sgrebnov in #6878
- Show correct limit for EXPLAIN plans in
S3VectorsQueryExec(#6852) by @Jeadie in #6852 - Responses API support for Azure Open AI (#6879) by @Advayp in #6879
- fix: Update search test case structure (#6865) by @peasee in #6865
- Fix mongodb benchmark (#6883) by @phillipleblanc in #6883
- Support multiple column primary keys for S3 vectors. (#6775) by @Jeadie in #6775
- Kafka Data Connector: persist consumer between restarts (#6870) by @sgrebnov in #6870
- Fix newlines in errors added in recent PRs (#6877) by @phillipleblanc in #6877
- Add override parameter to force support for the Responses API (#6871) by @Advayp in #6871
- Don't use metadata columns in
VectorScanTableProvider(#6854) by @Jeadie in #6854 - Add non-streaming tool call support (hosted and Spice tools) via the Responses API (#6869) by @Advayp in #6869
- Update error guideline to remove newlines + remove newlines from error messages. (#6866) by @phillipleblanc in #6866
- Remove void acceleration engine + optional table behaviors (#6868) by @phillipleblanc in #6868
- Kafka Data Connector basic support (#6856) by @sgrebnov in #6856
- Federated+Accelerated TPCH Benchmarks for MongoDB (#6788) by @krinart in #6788
- Pass embeddings calculated in
compute_indexto the acceleration (#6792) by @phillipleblanc in #6792 - Add non-streaming and streaming support for OpenAI Responses API endpoint (#6830) by @Advayp in #6830
- Use latest version of OpenAI crate to resolve issues with Service Tier deserialization (#6853) by @Advayp in #6853
- Update openapi.json (#6799) by @app/github-actions in #6799
- Improve management message (#6850) by @lukekim in #6850
- fix: Include FTS search column if it is the PK (#6836) by @peasee in #6836
- Refactor Health Checks (#6848) by @Advayp in #6848
- Introduce a
Responsestrait and LLM registry for model providers that support the OpenAI Responses API (#6798) by @Advayp in #6798 - fix: Update datafusion-table-providers to include constraints (#6837) by @peasee in #6837
- Bump postcard from 1.1.2 to 1.1.3 (#6841) by @app/dependabot in #6841
- Bump governor from 0.10.0 to 0.10.1 (#6835) by @app/dependabot in #6835
- Bump ctor from 0.2.9 to 0.5.0 (#6827) by @app/dependabot in #6827
- Bump azure_core from 0.26.0 to 0.27.0 (#6826) by @app/dependabot in #6826
- Bump rstest from 0.25.0 to 0.26.1 (#6825) by @app/dependabot in #6825
- Use latest commit in our fork of async-openai (#6829) by @Advayp in #6829
- Bump rustls from 0.23.27 to 0.23.31 (#6824) by @app/dependabot in #6824
- Bump async-trait from 0.1.88 to 0.1.89 (#6823) by @app/dependabot in #6823
- Bump hyper from 1.6.0 to 1.7.0 (#6814) by @app/dependabot in #6814
- Bump serde_json from 1.0.140 to 1.0.142 (#6812) by @app/dependabot in #6812
- Add s3 vector test retrieving vectors (#6786) by @Jeadie in #6786
- fix: Allow v1/search with only FTS (#6811) by @peasee in #6811
- Bump tantivy from 0.24.1 to 0.24.2 (#6806) by @app/dependabot in #6806
- Bump tokio-util from 0.7.15 to 0.7.16 (#6810) by @app/dependabot in #6810
- fix: Improve FTS index primary key handling (#6809) by @peasee in #6809
- Bump logos from 0.15.0 to 0.15.1 (#6808) by @app/dependabot in #6808
- Bump hf-hub from 0.4.2 to 0.4.3 (#6807) by @app/dependabot in #6807
- Bump odbc-api from 13.0.1 to 13.1.0 (#6803) by @app/dependabot in #6803
- fix: Spice search CLI with FTS supports string or slice unmarshalling (#6805) by @peasee in #6805
- Bump uuid from 1.17.0 to 1.18.0 (#6797) by @app/dependabot in #6797
- Bump reqwest from 0.12.22 to 0.12.23 (#6796) by @app/dependabot in #6796
- Bump anyhow from 1.0.98 to 1.0.99 (#6795) by @app/dependabot in #6795
- Bump clap from 4.5.41 to 4.5.45 (#6794) by @app/dependabot in #6794
- Respect default MAX_DECODING_MESSAGE_SIZE (100MB) in Flight API (#6802) by @sgrebnov in #6802
- Fix compilation errors caused by upgrading
async-openai(#6793) by @Advayp in #6793 - Remove outdated vector search benchmark (replaced with testoperator) (#6791) by @sgrebnov in #6791
- Handle errors in vector ingestion pipeline (#6782) by @phillipleblanc in #6782
- fix: Explicitly error when chunking is defined for vector engines (#6787) by @peasee in #6787
- Make
VectorScanTableProviderandVectorQueryTableProvidersupport multi-column primary keys (#6757) by @Jeadie in #6757 - Use
megascience/megascienceQ+A dataset for text search testing. (#6702) by @Jeadie in #6702 - Flight REPL autocomplete (#6589) by @krinart in #6589
- use ref:
github.event.pull_request.head.shain integration_models.yml (#6780) by @Jeadie in #6780 - fix: Move search telemetry calls in UDTF to scan (#6778) by @peasee in #6778
- Fix Hugging Face models and embeddings loading in Docker (#6777) by @ewgenius in #6777
- feat: Migrate bedrock rate limiter (#6773) by @peasee in #6773
- Run the PR checks on the DEV runners (#6769) by @phillipleblanc in #6769
- feat: add OpenAI models rate controller (#6767) by @peasee in #6767
- Implement MongoDB data connector (#6594) by @krinart in #6594
- fix: Use head ref for concurrency group (#6770) by @peasee in #6770
- fix: Run enforce pulls with spice on pull_request_target (#6768) by @peasee in #6768
- feat: Add OpenAI Embeddings Rate Controller (#6764) by @peasee in #6764
- Move AWS SDK credential bridge integration test to the existing AWS SDK integration test run (#6766) by @phillipleblanc in #6766
- Use Spice specific errors instead of OpenAIError in embedding module (#6748) by @kczimm in #6748
- Use context in Glue Catalog Provider (#6763) by @Advayp in #6763
- pin cargo-deny to previous version (#6762) by @kczimm in #6762
- Bump actions/download-artifact from 4 to 5 (#6720) by @app/dependabot in #6720
- Upgrade dependabot dependencies (#6754) by @phillipleblanc in #6754
- Set E2E Test CI models build to 90 minute timeout (#6756) by @phillipleblanc in #6756
- chore: upgrade to Rust 1.87.0 (#6614) by @kczimm in #6614
- feat: Add initial runtime-rate-limiter crate (#6753) by @peasee in #6753
- feat: Add more embedding traces, add MiniLM MTEB spicepod (#6742) by @peasee in #6742
- Update QA analytics for release (#6740) by @Advayp in #6740
- Always use 'returnData: true' for s3 vector query index (#6741) by @Jeadie in #6741
- feat: Add Embedding and Search anonymous telemetry (#6737) by @peasee in #6737
- Add 1.5.2 to SECURITY.md (#6739) by @ewgenius in #6739
- Combine the Iceberg and Object Store AWS SDK bridges into one crate (#6718) by @Advayp in #6718
- Updates to v1.5.2 release notes (#6736) by @lukekim in #6736
- Update end game template - move glue catalog to catalogs section (#6732) by @ewgenius in #6732
- Update v1.5.2.md (#6735) by @kczimm in #6735
- Add note about S3 Vectors workaround (#6734) by @phillipleblanc in #6734
- feat: Avoid joining for VectorScanTableProvider if the index is sufficient (#6714) by @peasee in #6714
- update changelog (#6729) by @kczimm in #6729
- remove unneeded autogenerated s3 vector code (#6715) by @Jeadie in #6715
- fix: Set S3 vectors default limit to 30, add more tracing (#6712) by @peasee in #6712
- docs: Add Hadoop cookbook to endgame template (#6708) by @peasee in #6708
- Fix testoperator append mode compilation error (#6706) by @phillipleblanc in #6706
- test: Add VectorScanTableProvider snapshot tests (#6701) by @peasee in #6701
- feat: Add Hadoop catalog-mode benchmark (#6684) by @peasee in #6684
- Move shared AWS crates used in bridges to workspace (#6705) by @Advayp in #6705
- Use installation id to group connections (#6703) by @Advayp in #6703
- Add Guardrails for AWS bedrock models (#6692) by @Jeadie in #6692
- Update bedrock keys for CI. (#6693) by @Jeadie in #6693
- Update acknowledgements (#6690) by @app/github-actions in #6690
- ROADMAP updates Aug 1, 2025 (#6667) by @lukekim in #6667
- Add retry logic for OpenAI embeddings creation (#6656) by @sgrebnov in #6656
- Make models E2E chat test more robust (#6657) by @sgrebnov in #6657
- Update Search GH Workflow to use Test Operator (#6650) by @sgrebnov in #6650
- Score and P95 latency calculation for MTEB Quora-based vector search tests in Test Operator (#6640) by @sgrebnov in #6640
- Fix multiple query error being classified as an internal error (#6635) by @Advayp in #6635
- Add Support for S3 Table Buckets (#6573) by krinart in #6573
- set MISTRALRS_METAL_PRECOMPILE=0 for metal (#6652) by @kczimm in #6652
- Vector search to push down udtf limit argument into logical sort plan (#6636) by @mach-kernel in #6636
- docs: Update qa_analytics.csv (#6643) by @peasee in #6643
- Update SECURITY.md (#6642) by @Jeadie in #6642
- docs: Update qa_analytics.csv (#6641) by @peasee in #6641
- Separate token usage (#6619) by @Advayp in #6619
- Fix typo in release notes (#6634) by @Advayp in #6634
- Add environment variable for org token (#6633) by @Advayp in #6633
- CDC: Compute embeddings on ingest (#6612) by @mach-kernel in #6612
- Add view name to view creation errors (#6611) by @lukekim in #6611
- Add core logic for running MTEB Quora-based vector search tests in Test Operator (#6607) by @sgrebnov in #6607
- Revert "Update generate-openapi.yml (#6584)" (#6620) by @Jeadie in #6620
- Non-accelerated views should report as ready only after all dependent datasets are ready (#6617) by @sgrebnov in #6617
