Add Vector Search API support

[dkropachev]

Jira task: https://scylladb.atlassian.net/browse/DRIVER-735
Jira epic: https://scylladb.atlassian.net/browse/DRIVER-729

Copied from Jira epic DRIVER-729:

This issue tracks client-library support for the Alternator vector search API.

Starting point / reference implementation: scylladb/alternator-client-java#87

This is distinct from DRIVER-112, which tracks CQL/native-driver vector support. Alternator vector search is a DynamoDB-compatible API extension, so standard AWS SDK models do not know the extra request/response fields and may reject or drop them unless the client library patches the model or intercepts raw JSON.

Core/server references

• Initial core issue / implementation PR: Alternator: Add vector search support scylladb#29046
• Merge commit for initial support: scylladb/scylladb@37fc150
• More features: alternator: add more vector search features scylladb#29554
• Pre-filtering, Limit <= 1000, KeyConditions rejection: alternator: add even more vector search features scylladb#29776
• Projected columns for vector indexes: Alternator vector search: Implement projected columns (for filtering and selecting) scylladb#29959
• Vector search and Alternator Streams coexistence: alternator: vector search and streams on the same table scylladb#29826

Related vector-store references:

• validator: Alternator API test vector-store#392
• Support Alternator in Vector Store vector-store#394
• support storing, filtering and retrieving non-key columns vector-store#444

Server docs/tests:

• https://github.com/scylladb/scylladb/blob/master/docs/alternator/vector-search.md
• https://github.com/scylladb/scylladb/blob/master/test/alternator/test_vector.py

Required client API surface

CreateTable.VectorIndexes

Support vector index definitions with IndexName, VectorAttribute, optional Projection, and optional SimilarityFunction.

VectorAttribute contains AttributeName and Dimensions. SimilarityFunction values are COSINE, EUCLIDEAN, and DOT_PRODUCT; COSINE is the server default.

Projection follows the DynamoDB secondary-index projection shape: ProjectionType plus optional NonKeyAttributes. Current merged server support is KEYS_ONLY. Projection=INCLUDE is being added by scylladb/scylladb#29959. Projection=ALL is not currently supported.

Useful client-side validation: Dimensions must be positive and the server maximum is 16000; IndexName uses DynamoDB-style table/index name rules; the vector attribute cannot be a table key or secondary-index key; duplicate vector index names and duplicate vector indexes on the same attribute are invalid.

UpdateTable.VectorIndexUpdates

Support VectorIndexUpdates with exactly one operation per request: Create or Delete. Create has the same shape as CreateTable.VectorIndexes. Delete contains IndexName. There is no vector-index Update operation.

Do not combine vector index updates with GSI updates in the same request. After scylladb/scylladb#29826, vector indexes and Alternator Streams can coexist on the same table, but stream status changes and vector index create/delete should not be combined in one UpdateTable request.

DescribeTable.Table.VectorIndexes

Expose VectorIndexes from DescribeTable. Returned fields include IndexName, VectorAttribute, Projection, SimilarityFunction, IndexStatus, and Backfilling. Client libraries should provide or document a waiter/helper that waits for IndexStatus == ACTIVE before vector queries.

AttributeValue.FLOAT32VECTOR

Support the Alternator-specific AttributeValue member FLOAT32VECTOR, for example:

{"FLOAT32VECTOR": [0.1, -0.3, 0.7]}

Values are JSON numbers, not DynamoDB numeric strings. Values must fit finite float32. The vector length must match the index dimensions. Standard DynamoDB L-of-N vectors are also accepted by the server, but FLOAT32VECTOR is the compact optimized representation.

Most AWS SDKs do not know FLOAT32VECTOR. A client library may need to patch the SDK service model or intercept serialized request/response JSON. If a local placeholder representation is used internally, it must be replaced with real FLOAT32VECTOR JSON before sending the request.

On reads, preserve enough information for callers to re-write the value as FLOAT32VECTOR. If the client converts it only to a normal L-of-N value, copying the item back will store it as a regular list instead of the compact vector type.

Query.VectorSearch

Support Query.VectorSearch with QueryVector and optional ReturnScores.

Query rules: IndexName is required and must name a vector index. Limit is required and must be positive. scylladb/scylladb#29776 caps Limit at 1000. VectorSearch.QueryVector is required and may be FLOAT32VECTOR or L-of-N. ConsistentRead=true is rejected. ExclusiveStartKey is rejected because there is no pagination. ScanIndexForward is rejected because results are always nearest/best first. Legacy QueryFilter is rejected.

ReturnScores values are NONE and SIMILARITY. NONE is the default. With SIMILARITY, the response includes Scores, a numeric array parallel to Items where Scores[i] belongs to Items[i]. ReturnScores=SIMILARITY is invalid with Select=COUNT.

Score semantics: higher is better. COSINE scores are in [0, 1] using (1 + cosine) / 2. EUCLIDEAN scores are in [0, 1] using 1 / (1 + distance). DOT_PRODUCT is unbounded and may be negative or greater than 1.

Standard Query options: Select, ProjectionExpression, AttributesToGet, and FilterExpression are supported. FilterExpression is a post-filter and can return fewer than Limit results. The current default Select behavior is ALL_PROJECTED_ATTRIBUTES. Select=COUNT returns counts and no Items.

Filtering caveat: current merged server behavior ignores KeyConditionExpression for vector search. scylladb/scylladb#29776 changes KeyConditionExpression into a pre-filter over projected attributes and rejects legacy KeyConditions. Supported pre-filter operators after that PR are =, <, <=, >, >=, IN, BETWEEN, and AND. OR, NOT, and <> are not supported. The pre-filter is limited to projected scalar attributes, currently S and N.

Implementation guidance

• Preserve normal DynamoDB behavior for requests that do not use Alternator vector extensions.
• Prefer a typed, language-idiomatic API, but keep a raw escape hatch for unsupported or not-yet-modeled server fields.
• If the underlying SDK drops unknown response fields, extract VectorIndexes, Scores, and FLOAT32VECTOR before normal SDK parsing.
• Integration tests should skip cleanly when the server does not support vector indexes or when vector-store is disabled.

Acceptance criteria

• CreateTable.VectorIndexes can be serialized and sent.
• UpdateTable.VectorIndexUpdates create/delete can be serialized and sent.
• DescribeTable.Table.VectorIndexes can be parsed and exposed.
• FLOAT32VECTOR can be written and read without being lost or silently converted into an incompatible representation.
• Query.VectorSearch works with FLOAT32VECTOR and L-of-N query vectors.
• ReturnScores=SIMILARITY is exposed and Scores order matches Items order.
• Invalid combinations are covered: missing IndexName, missing Limit, missing QueryVector, ConsistentRead=true, ExclusiveStartKey, ScanIndexForward, and ReturnScores=SIMILARITY with Select=COUNT.
• Documentation/examples explain server-version caveats for KeyConditionExpression pre-filtering, Projection=INCLUDE, Limit <= 1000, and Streams coexistence.