Evaluation
What is a feature store?
A feature store serves consistent numeric or categorical features to training and to inference, usually for tabular models.
Updated
How it works
- Features are defined once.
- Training and serving read the same definitions.
- The values are typically scalars, not frames.
What it is not
It is not computed columns on images and video, and it is not an embedding index.
feature store: this, and the thing it is confused with
| This | Not this | |
|---|---|---|
| Values | Scalars and categories | Frames and documents |
| Point | Train/serve consistency | Media pipelines |
| Overlap | Both cache derived values | They are the same product |
Where Pixeltable fits
Pixeltable computed columns can feed features, including from media. A feature store such as Feast or Tecton is the tabular product. They answer different queries.
Questions
- How does feature store work?
- Features are defined once. Training and serving read the same definitions. The values are typically scalars, not frames.
- What is feature store often confused with?
- It is not computed columns on images and video, and it is not an embedding index.