feat(agent): expose the HNSW parameters in MemoryConfig

Graph degree and the build- and query-time candidate list sizes were
constants, so a deployment had no way to trade recall against memory or
query speed. They are now `MemoryConfig::hnsw_m`,
`hnsw_ef_construction` and `hnsw_ef_search`, persisted with the store
and defaulting to exactly the previous behaviour (16, 64, and a query
list that scales with `k`).

Two things the straightforward version would have got wrong:

`clawhdf5-ann` asserts a graph degree of at least 2, so a configured 0 —
from a file, or from a caller reading 0 as "use the default" — aborted
the process inside the index builder. The store clamps instead, and a
test covers it: removing the clamp makes that test panic rather than
fail.

`ef_search` and the candidate pool handed to score fusion were the same
number. Tying the pool to the new setting would mean lowering `ef` for
speed also narrows what fusion sees, quietly degrading hybrid results
through a knob that looks like it only costs time. They are now
independent.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <[email protected]>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -2,6 +2,19 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Tuning
+- `clawhdf5-agent`: **the HNSW parameters are configurable** —
+  `MemoryConfig::hnsw_m`, `hnsw_ef_construction` and `hnsw_ef_search`
+  (defaults 16, 64, and 0 meaning "scale with `k`", i.e. today's behaviour).
+  They were constants, so a deployment could not trade recall against memory
+  or query speed at all. All three are persisted with the store. Values are
+  clamped where the index requires it: `clawhdf5-ann` asserts a graph degree
+  of at least 2, so a configured 0 — from a file, or from a caller who took 0
+  to mean "default" — used to abort the process inside the builder. Lowering
+  `ef_search` also no longer narrows the candidate pool that fusion sees.
+  **Breaking:** `MemoryConfig` gained fields, so literal constructions need
+  updating; `..Default::default()` does not.
+
 ### Performance
 - `clawhdf5-agent`: **opening a store is ~28% faster** (455 ms -> 327 ms at
   100k x 384). `read_from_disk` memory-mapped the file and then copied the

README.md

@@ -433,6 +433,10 @@ ClawhDF5's agent memory design draws from 15+ recent papers:
 | `float16` | **yes** | Half-precision embedding storage (2× compression) |
 | `hnsw` | **yes** | HNSW approximate vector index for `hybrid_search` (via `clawhdf5-ann`); disable for an exact linear scan |
 
+`MemoryConfig::hnsw_m`, `hnsw_ef_construction` and `hnsw_ef_search` tune the
+vector index (16 / 64 / scale-with-`k` by default) and are stored with the
+file.
+
 `MemoryConfig::quantized_index` (off by default) stores the HNSW index's own
 copy of the embeddings as `i8`, roughly halving a loaded store's memory
 (2.72x -> 1.74x the raw vectors at 100k x 384). Quantised distances are

crates/clawhdf5-agent/src/agents_md.rs

@@ -119,6 +119,9 @@ mod tests {
             wal_enabled: false,
             wal_max_entries: 500,
             quantized_index: false,
+            hnsw_m: 16,
+            hnsw_ef_construction: 64,
+            hnsw_ef_search: 0,
         }
     }
 

crates/clawhdf5-agent/src/lib.rs

@@ -65,12 +65,6 @@ use cache::MemoryCache;
 use clawhdf5_ann::{DistanceMetric, HnswIndex, Storage};
 use ephemeral::{EphemeralConfig, EphemeralStore};
 
-/// HNSW construction parameters used for the agent's vector index. Cosine is the
-/// agent's similarity metric, so the index is built with cosine distance.
-#[cfg(feature = "hnsw")]
-const HNSW_M: usize = 16;
-#[cfg(feature = "hnsw")]
-const HNSW_EF_CONSTRUCTION: usize = 64;
 // EphemeralEntry and EphemeralStats are part of the crate public API via
 // the `ephemeral` module; they are not needed directly in lib.rs internals.
 #[allow(unused_imports)]
@@ -150,6 +144,23 @@ pub struct MemoryConfig {
     ///
     /// Has no effect without the `hnsw` feature.
     pub quantized_index: bool,
+    /// HNSW graph degree. Higher means a denser graph: better recall, more
+    /// memory and slower builds. Clamped to at least 2 when the index is
+    /// built, since a graph with fewer connections is not one.
+    ///
+    /// Has no effect without the `hnsw` feature.
+    pub hnsw_m: usize,
+    /// Candidate list size while building the HNSW graph. Higher means a
+    /// better graph and a slower build; it does not affect query cost.
+    ///
+    /// Has no effect without the `hnsw` feature.
+    pub hnsw_ef_construction: usize,
+    /// Candidate list size for a query, trading throughput for recall. `0`
+    /// keeps the default, which scales with the requested `k`
+    /// (`max(k * 8, 64)`) so that fusion still sees a useful pool.
+    ///
+    /// Has no effect without the `hnsw` feature.
+    pub hnsw_ef_search: usize,
 }
 
 impl MemoryConfig {
@@ -172,6 +183,9 @@ impl MemoryConfig {
             wal_enabled: true,
             wal_max_entries: 500,
             quantized_index: false,
+            hnsw_m: 16,
+            hnsw_ef_construction: 64,
+            hnsw_ef_search: 0,
         }
     }
 }
@@ -826,6 +840,32 @@ impl HDF5Memory {
     // the index length drifts from the cache length (covering any mutation path
     // that doesn't call a hook, e.g. consolidation pushes).
 
+    /// Graph degree for the index, never below the 2 the builder requires:
+    /// a config value of 0 or 1 would otherwise panic inside `clawhdf5-ann`.
+    #[cfg(feature = "hnsw")]
+    fn hnsw_m(&self) -> usize {
+        self.config.hnsw_m.max(2)
+    }
+
+    /// Build-time candidate list size, never below the graph degree — a
+    /// smaller one cannot fill a node's connections.
+    #[cfg(feature = "hnsw")]
+    fn hnsw_ef_construction(&self) -> usize {
+        self.config.hnsw_ef_construction.max(self.hnsw_m())
+    }
+
+    /// Query-time candidate list size for a `k`-result search. `0` means the
+    /// default, which scales with `k`.
+    #[cfg(feature = "hnsw")]
+    pub(crate) fn hnsw_ef_search(&self, k: usize) -> usize {
+        let default = (k * 8).max(64);
+        if self.config.hnsw_ef_search == 0 {
+            default
+        } else {
+            self.config.hnsw_ef_search.max(k)
+        }
+    }
+
     /// How the index should store its copy of the vectors, per the config.
     #[cfg(feature = "hnsw")]
     fn index_storage(&self) -> Storage {
@@ -856,8 +896,8 @@ impl HDF5Memory {
         let rows: Vec<Vec<f32>> = self.cache.embeddings.iter().map(<[f32]>::to_vec).collect();
         let mut index = HnswIndex::build_with(
             &rows,
-            HNSW_M,
+            self.hnsw_m(),
-            HNSW_EF_CONSTRUCTION,
+            self.hnsw_ef_construction(),
             DistanceMetric::Cosine,
             self.index_storage(),
         );

crates/clawhdf5-agent/src/schema.rs

@@ -108,6 +108,15 @@ pub fn build_hdf5_file_with_meta(
         "quantized_index",
         AttrValue::I64(config.quantized_index.into()),
     );
+    meta.set_attr("hnsw_m", AttrValue::I64(config.hnsw_m as i64));
+    meta.set_attr(
+        "hnsw_ef_construction",
+        AttrValue::I64(config.hnsw_ef_construction as i64),
+    );
+    meta.set_attr(
+        "hnsw_ef_search",
+        AttrValue::I64(config.hnsw_ef_search as i64),
+    );
     meta.set_attr(
         "edgehdf5_version",
         AttrValue::String(ZEROCLAW_VERSION.into()),
@@ -489,6 +498,15 @@ pub fn validate_and_load(
             .and_then(|v| usize::try_from(v).ok())
             .unwrap_or(500),
         quantized_index: optional_bool_attr(&attrs, "quantized_index", false),
+        hnsw_m: optional_i64_attr(&attrs, "hnsw_m")
+            .and_then(|v| usize::try_from(v).ok())
+            .unwrap_or(16),
+        hnsw_ef_construction: optional_i64_attr(&attrs, "hnsw_ef_construction")
+            .and_then(|v| usize::try_from(v).ok())
+            .unwrap_or(64),
+        hnsw_ef_search: optional_i64_attr(&attrs, "hnsw_ef_search")
+            .and_then(|v| usize::try_from(v).ok())
+            .unwrap_or(0),
     };
 
     // Load /memory group

crates/clawhdf5-agent/src/search.rs

@@ -28,8 +28,12 @@ impl HDF5Memory {
             Some(index) if !index.is_empty() && index.dimension() == query_embedding.len() => {
                 // Over-fetch so the merge sees a useful vector pool; cosine
                 // distance from the index converts back to similarity (1 - d).
+                // `ef` is configurable, but the pool the fusion stage sees is
+                // not tied to it: a caller lowering `ef` for speed should not
+                // silently narrow what fusion has to work with.
                 let pool = (k * 8).max(64);
-                let candidates = index.search(query_embedding, pool, pool);
+                let ef = self.hnsw_ef_search(k).max(pool);
+                let candidates = index.search(query_embedding, pool, ef);
                 // A quantised index returns approximate distances, and no
                 // amount of `ef` fixes that — the loss is in the distances,
                 // not the graph. Re-score the pool against the cache's exact

crates/clawhdf5-agent/tests/hnsw_integration.rs

@@ -234,3 +234,53 @@ fn quantized_index_setting_survives_a_reopen() {
     let reopened = HDF5Memory::open(&path).unwrap();
     assert!(reopened.config().quantized_index);
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn hnsw_parameters_are_configurable_and_persisted() {
+    // The graph degree and both candidate-list sizes used to be constants, so
+    // a deployment could not trade recall against memory or speed at all.
+    let dir = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let path = dir.path().join("mem.h5");
+    let mut config = MemoryConfig::new(path.clone(), "agent", 16);
+    config.hnsw_m = 8;
+    config.hnsw_ef_construction = 32;
+    config.hnsw_ef_search = 128;
+    let mut mem = HDF5Memory::create(config).unwrap();
+
+    let mut seed = 99;
+    let vectors: Vec<Vec<f32>> = (0..300).map(|_| make_vector(&mut seed, 16)).collect();
+    for (i, v) in vectors.iter().enumerate() {
+        mem.save(entry(&format!("c{i}"), v.clone(), "t")).unwrap();
+    }
+    // Still correct with a smaller graph: an exact match must rank first.
+    let top = mem.hybrid_search(&vectors[42], "", 1.0, 0.0, 1);
+    assert_eq!(top[0].index, 42);
+
+    mem.flush_wal().unwrap();
+    drop(mem);
+    let reopened = HDF5Memory::open(&path).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(reopened.config().hnsw_m, 8);
+    assert_eq!(reopened.config().hnsw_ef_construction, 32);
+    assert_eq!(reopened.config().hnsw_ef_search, 128);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn degenerate_hnsw_parameters_do_not_panic() {
+    // `clawhdf5-ann` asserts m >= 2, so a zero from a config file — or from a
+    // caller who assumed 0 meant "default" — would abort the process inside
+    // the index builder. The store clamps instead.
+    let dir = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let mut config = MemoryConfig::new(dir.path().join("mem.h5"), "agent", 8);
+    config.hnsw_m = 0;
+    config.hnsw_ef_construction = 0;
+    config.hnsw_ef_search = 1;
+    let mut mem = HDF5Memory::create(config).unwrap();
+
+    let mut seed = 5;
+    let vectors: Vec<Vec<f32>> = (0..50).map(|_| make_vector(&mut seed, 8)).collect();
+    for (i, v) in vectors.iter().enumerate() {
+        mem.save(entry(&format!("c{i}"), v.clone(), "t")).unwrap();
+    }
+    let results = mem.hybrid_search(&vectors[7], "", 1.0, 0.0, 5);
+    assert_eq!(results[0].index, 7, "exact match should still rank first");
+}