Alterlab Vaex

Vaex

Overview

Vaex is a Python library for lazy, out-of-core DataFrames: it memory-maps HDF5/Arrow files, evaluates expressions lazily, and computes statistics on N-dimensional grids fast enough for interactive work on billions of rows on a single machine.

Maintenance Status (read first)

Vaex is effectively in minimal-maintenance mode. In the project's "Is Vaex active?" discussion (vaexio/vaex #2363, June 2024), one core developer stated he is no longer involved and the other committed only to "do my best to at least get vaex releases out". Releases have slowed to roughly one per year (vaex-core 4.18 in Oct 2024, 4.19 in Sep 2025), and 4.19 still supports only Python 3.9–3.12 with pandas<3; the 2-D matplotlib plots break on matplotlib ≥ 3.9. Practical consequences:

• Existing Vaex code: keep it running in a pinned Python 3.12 environment (below), and plan a migration.
• New projects: default to Polars (alterlab-polars) — pl.scan_parquet(...) plus collect(engine="streaming") covers most larger-than-RAM aggregation work — or Dask (alterlab-dask) for clusters. Recommend Vaex for new work only when its specific strengths (memory-mapped HDF5, fast binned statistics/visualization of huge tables) matter and the user accepts the environment constraints.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user wants to:

• Run, debug, or extend an existing Vaex pipeline (vaex.open, virtual columns, selections, vaex.ml).
• Open memory-mapped HDF5/Arrow files that exceed RAM and compute fast aggregations or binned statistics.
• Batch several aggregations into one pass with delay=True / df.execute().
• Convert large CSV to HDF5/Arrow/Parquet, or port a Vaex workflow to Polars.

Does NOT Trigger

Installation

bashCopy code
# Dedicated environment — vaex 4.19 has no wheels for Python 3.13+ and requires pandas < 3
uv venv --python 3.12 .venv-vaex
uv pip install --python .venv-vaex "vaex==4.19.*"
uv pip install --python .venv-vaex "matplotlib<3.9"   # only if you need df.viz.heatmap

Core Capabilities

Vaex provides six capability areas, each documented in references/:

1. DataFrames and Data Loading

Open HDF5/Arrow/Parquet/CSV files, convert from pandas/NumPy/Arrow, and inspect structure — references/core_dataframes.md.

2. Data Processing and Manipulation

Filtering, named selections, virtual columns and expressions, groupby/aggregations, strings, datetimes, and missing data — references/data_processing.md.

3. Performance and Optimization

Lazy evaluation, delay=True batching, materialization, caching, and async execution — references/performance.md.

4. Data Visualization

Binned histograms and heatmaps of huge tables via the df.viz accessor, selections, and widgets — references/visualization.md.

5. Machine Learning Integration

vaex.ml scalers, encoders, PCA, k-means, and scikit-learn/XGBoost/LightGBM/CatBoost wrappers — references/machine_learning.md. The booster and scikit-learn wrappers materialize the training features in memory; only the transformers and prediction columns stay lazy.

6. I/O Operations

Format recommendations, export strategies, Arrow interop, chunked CSV conversion, and remote data — references/io_operations.md.

Quick Start Pattern

pythonCopy code
import vaex

# 1. Open or create a DataFrame
df = vaex.open('large_file.hdf5')  # or .arrow, .parquet; CSV is read (and optionally converted)
# OR
df = vaex.from_pandas(pandas_df)

# 2. Explore
print(df)          # first/last rows and column info
df.describe()      # statistical summary

# 3. Virtual columns (no memory overhead)
df['new_column'] = df.x ** 2 + df.y

# 4. Filter
df_filtered = df[df.age > 25]

# 5. Statistics (lazy, computed in passes over the data)
mean_val = df.x.mean()
stats = df.groupby('category').agg({'value': 'sum'})

# 6. Visualize (df.plot1d / df.plot are deprecated aliases of these)
df.viz.histogram(df.x, limits=[0, 100])
df.viz.heatmap(df.x, df.y, limits='99.7%')   # needs matplotlib < 3.9

# 7. Export
df.export_hdf5('output.hdf5')

Best Practices

1. Use HDF5 or Apache Arrow for memory-mapped access to large datasets; Parquet is the most portable choice if a Polars migration is likely.
2. Prefer virtual columns to materializing data.
3. Batch operations with delay=True when computing several statistics.
4. Convert CSV once to HDF5/Arrow/Parquet rather than re-reading it.
5. Check memory with df.byte_size() and inspect data with df.describe() before optimizing.
6. Pin the environment (Python 3.12, vaex==4.19.*) and record it with results so analyses stay reproducible.

Common Patterns

Pattern: Converting Large CSV to HDF5

pythonCopy code
import vaex

# convert=True streams the CSV in chunks to an HDF5 file next to it
df = vaex.from_csv('large_file.csv', convert=True, chunk_size=5_000_000)

# Future loads are memory-mapped and near-instant
df = vaex.open('large_file.csv.hdf5')

Pattern: Efficient Aggregations

pythonCopy code
# delay=True batches several aggregations into ONE pass over the data.
# Each delayed call returns a promise; df.execute() runs them together.
mean_x = df.mean(df.x, delay=True)
std_y = df.std(df.y, delay=True)
sum_z = df.sum(df.z, delay=True)

df.execute()
print(mean_x.get(), std_y.get(), sum_z.get())

Pattern: Virtual Columns for Feature Engineering

pythonCopy code
# No memory overhead — computed on the fly
df['age_squared'] = df.age ** 2
df['full_name'] = df.first_name + ' ' + df.last_name
df['is_adult'] = df.age >= 18

Pattern: Migrating a Vaex Query to Polars

pythonCopy code
# Vaex: df = vaex.open('big.parquet'); df['z'] = df.x ** 2 + df.y
#       df[df.x > 0.5].groupby('category').agg({'z': 'mean'})
import polars as pl

result = (
    pl.scan_parquet('big.parquet')                      # lazy, like vaex.open
    .with_columns((pl.col('x') ** 2 + pl.col('y')).alias('z'))   # virtual column
    .filter(pl.col('x') > 0.5)                          # filter
    .group_by('category').agg(pl.col('z').mean())       # groupby/agg
    .collect(engine='streaming')                        # out-of-core execution
)

Polars cannot read Vaex's HDF5 layout directly — export once with df.export_parquet(...) or df.export_arrow(...). Several delay=True statistics become one select(...) in a single lazy query. See alterlab-polars for the rest of the Polars API.

Resources

• references/core_dataframes.md — DataFrame creation, loading, and basic structure
• references/data_processing.md — filtering, expressions, aggregations, and transformations
• references/performance.md — optimization strategies and lazy evaluation
• references/visualization.md — plotting and interactive visualizations
• references/machine_learning.md — ML pipelines and model integration
• references/io_operations.md — file formats and data import/export

Part of the AlterLab Academic Skills suite.