# Image Embedding

Read page and visual-object images from a document visual manifest, generate image vectors, and write them to an image index table.

Use this node for visual retrieval over drawings, layouts, and image objects. Input should come from [Build Document Visual Manifest](../other/document-visual-manifest.md).

## Prepare index inputs

Templates bind the manifest and index configuration. When building a flow yourself, provide the following inputs.

| Input | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Visual manifest | Manifest object or file reference containing readable page and object image references |
| `image_vector_table` | Target table for image vectors |
| `image_embedding_model` | Model that processes actual images |
| `embedding_dimension` | Positive dimension matching both model output and target index |
| `preprocess_version` | Required identifier for image preprocessing |
| `distance_metric` | Required metric matching the image index configuration |

The node is enabled by default. Disabling it returns `disabled` and skips embedding and index writes. Set the embedding source to `real` to process the images themselves.

## Check index coverage

`written` counts all rows written. `page_rows` and `visual_object_rows` count page and object records separately.

`all_source_file_ids` lists the sources considered; `indexed_source_file_ids` lists only sources actually written to the image index. Inspect `file_statuses` for each file's result.

In flows that allow empty image results, `no_indexable_images` means the file had no images to index and no image vectors were written for it.

## Example: index drawing images

Flow: CAD Drawing Segmentation → Build Document Visual Manifest → Image Embedding.

Pass the full manifest and index settings. After running, check dimensions, row counts, and per-file status. Pass the indexed source list to [Lineage Registration](../other/lineage-registration.md) to record source relationships.

## Related pages

- [Variables and data flow](../../variables-and-data.md)
- [Run and debug](../../run-debug.md)