---
title: Use pgai with Voyage AI | Tiger Data Docs
description: This page shows you how to:
---

# Use pgai with Voyage AI

This page shows you how to:

- [Configure pgai for Voyage AI](#configure-pgai-for-voyage-ai)
- [Add AI functionality to your database](#usage)

## Configure pgai for Voyage AI

To use the Voyage AI functions, you need a [Voyage AI API key](https://docs.voyageai.com/docs/api-key-and-installation#authentication-with-api-keys).

In production, we suggest setting the API key using an environment variable. During testing and development, it may be easiest to configure the key value as a \[session level parameter]. For more options and details, consult the [Handling API keys](/reference/pgai/extension/security/handling-api-keys/index.md) document.

1. Set your Voyage key as an environment variable in your shell:

   Terminal window

   ```
   export VOYAGE_API_KEY="this-is-my-super-secret-api-key-dont-tell"
   ```

2. Use the session level parameter when you connect to your database:

   Terminal window

   ```
   PGOPTIONS="-c ai.voyage_api_key=$VOYAGE_API_KEY" psql -d "postgres://<username>:<password>@<host>:<port>/<database-name>"
   ```

3. Run your AI query:

   `ai.voyage_api_key` is set for the duration of your psql session, you do not need to specify it for pgai functions.

   ```
   SELECT * FROM ai.voyageai_embed('voyage-3-lite', 'sample text to embed');
   ```

## Usage

This section shows you how to use AI directly from your database using SQL.

- [Embed](#embed): generate [embeddings](https://docs.voyageai.com/docs/embeddings) using a specified model.

### Embed

Generate [embeddings](https://docs.voyageai.com/docs/embeddings) using a specified model.

- Request an embedding using a specific model:

  ```
  SELECT ai.voyageai_embed
  ( 'voyage-3-lite'
  , 'the purple elephant sits on a red mushroom'
  );
  ```

  The data returned looks like:

  ```
                        voyageai_embed
  --------------------------------------------------------
   [0.005978798,-0.020522336,...-0.0022857306,-0.023699166]
  (1 row)
  ```

- Pass an array of text inputs:

  ```
  SELECT ai.voyageai_embed
  ( 'voyage-3-lite'
  , array['Timescale is Postgres made Powerful', 'the purple elephant sits on a red mushroom']
  );
  ```

- Specify the input type

  The Voyage AI API allows setting the `input_type` to `"document"`, or `"query"`, (or unset). Correctly setting this value should enhance retrieval quality:

  ```
  SELECT ai.voyageai_embed
  ( 'voyage-3-lite'
  , 'A query'
  , input_type => 'query'
  );
  ```