feat(agent): MemoryConfig::float16 stores half-precision embeddings
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The setting was persisted in /meta and otherwise ignored: embeddings
were always written as f32. It now does what it says.

clawhdf5-format:
- `DatasetBuilder::with_f16_data` writes IEEE binary16 (numpy float16),
  rounding to nearest-even, and `make_f16_type`.
- `clawhdf5_format::float16` holds the f32 <-> f16 conversions, the one
  implementation the writer, the reader and the agent all use. Checked
  against the `half` crate on 16.7M f32 values and round-trips all 65536
  half values; the h5py interop tests confirm the rounding matches
  numpy's bit for bit (4020 values incl. ties, subnormals, overflow).
- Reading little-endian float16 as f32 has a fast path.

clawhdf5-agent:
- A float16 store writes /memory/embeddings as half precision, and
  `MemoryCache::half_precision` rounds each embedding as it enters the
  cache (save, update, WAL replay, and on load of a store still f32 on
  disk), so memory and file agree bit for bit and a store searches the
  same before and after a reopen (tested).
- Values beyond +-65504 are refused with the new
  `MemoryError::InvalidEntry` rather than stored as infinity, on every
  save path; batches are all or nothing, and a rejected ephemeral entry
  stays in the ephemeral tier. Breaking for exhaustive matches.
- CLI: `create --float16`. Off by default.

Measured on tank, 384-dim, six runs alternating order, medians
(search_harness --float16-study --full): at 100K the file goes from
154.0 to 80.8 MiB (-48%), checkpoint 752 -> 512 ms, open 300 -> 252 ms;
vector recall@10 against an exact scan and hybrid_search latency do not
change. At 10K open is 3 ms slower. Also a test that h5py opens a whole
agent store, f32 and float16, and decodes every dataset.

Docs: README, BENCHMARKS.md ("float16 embedding storage"), CHANGELOG
(including the h5py interop fixes in the previous commit), CLAUDE.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <[email protected]>
This commit is contained in:
osobh
2026-09-24 12:00:38 -05:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5.5
parent 5e4aa1c6bf
commit d0db83812b
18 changed files with 1111 additions and 43 deletions
+16 -30
View File
@@ -1076,6 +1076,21 @@ pub fn read_as_f32(raw: &[u8], datatype: &Datatype) -> Result<Vec<f32>, FormatEr
) {
return Ok(native_le_to_vec::<f32>(raw, count));
}
// Little-endian half precision (numpy float16): widen directly.
if matches!(
datatype,
Datatype::FloatingPoint {
size: 2,
byte_order: DatatypeByteOrder::LittleEndian,
..
}
) {
let (halves, _) = raw[..count * 2].as_chunks::<2>();
return Ok(halves
.iter()
.map(|&b| f16_bits_to_f32(u16::from_le_bytes(b)))
.collect());
}
let order = get_byte_order(datatype);
let mut result = Vec::with_capacity(count);
@@ -1622,36 +1637,7 @@ fn read_f16_bytes(bytes: &[u8], order: &DatatypeByteOrder) -> f32 {
f16_bits_to_f32(u16::from_le_bytes(buf))
}
/// Convert the bit pattern of an IEEE-754 half (binary16) to an `f32`.
fn f16_bits_to_f32(h: u16) -> f32 {
let h = h as u32;
let sign = (h & 0x8000) << 16;
let exp = (h >> 10) & 0x1f;
let mant = h & 0x3ff;
let bits = if exp == 0 {
if mant == 0 {
sign // signed zero
} else {
// Subnormal: normalize into an f32 normal.
let mut e: i32 = -1;
let mut m = mant;
loop {
e += 1;
m <<= 1;
if m & 0x400 != 0 {
break;
}
}
let m = m & 0x3ff;
sign | (((127 - 15 - e) as u32) << 23) | (m << 13)
}
} else if exp == 0x1f {
sign | 0x7f80_0000 | (mant << 13) // inf / NaN
} else {
sign | ((exp + (127 - 15)) << 23) | (mant << 13)
};
f32::from_bits(bits)
}
use crate::float16::f16_bits_to_f32;
fn read_f32_bytes(bytes: &[u8], order: &DatatypeByteOrder) -> f32 {
let mut buf = [0u8; 4];