nind

nind (“nouvelle indexation”) is a flat-file inverted-index module. This site documents the Python package (nind, in src/py/nind/): an ergonomic Python frontend to nind’s binary index formats, plus a modern BM25-style search API layered on top.

One format, one C++ implementation, an ergonomic Python API

nind’s binary file formats are specified in an EBNF grammar (see the project README) and produced/read by a single production C++ stack. The nind Python package is not a second, independent implementation of that stack - its low-level classes are thin wrappers over nind._native (pybind11 bindings compiled from that same C++ code), so reading or writing a file in Python exercises the real C++ implementation underneath. The only genuinely hand-rolled Python parsing left is for a handful of diagnostic/introspection methods (dumpeFichier, afficheTerme, and similar) that nind._native doesn’t expose yet.

Where to start

• New to the package? Start with Quickstart - index a handful of files and run a search in a few lines.

• Building something on the low-level formats? Architecture explains how the module layers fit together, and the API reference documents every public class and function.

• Just want the CLI? See Command-line tools.

Installation

pip install nind

This installs the pure-Python nind package together with its compiled nind._native extension (pybind11 bindings over the C++ index stack) - see Architecture for how the two relate. Building from source requires a C++14 compiler; pip/uv pull in the rest (scikit-build-core, pybind11, cmake, ninja) automatically.