Manticore Search, a database designed for fast searching, released a major update on 22 June 2026 that adds security features, tools to handle more data, and better integration with artificial intelligence. The update, version 27.1.5, also fixed 65 bugs that have accumulated since two years ago.

Built-In Security

For the first time, Manticore has its own security system. Previously, companies using Manticore had to add security separately, using tools at the network level. Now, the database itself manages usernames, passwords, and access permissions — who can read data, who can write it, and who can administer the system. This matters because many organizations use Manticore in two different ways: through SQL queries (a traditional database language) and through HTTP requests (web-based connections). The old approach left one of these paths potentially unprotected. The new security covers both.

Handling Bigger Datasets

Manticore can now split large datasets across multiple computers — a feature called sharding. If you think of a database as a filing cabinet, sharding is like distributing files across several cabinets instead of overstuffing one. This makes it faster to store and retrieve data when you have a lot of it. Previously, teams had to do this manually. Now it is built into the software.

Smarter Search for AI

Two improvements focus on AI applications. The first is faster vector searching, a technique that finds similar items based on mathematical representations rather than keyword matching. The second is conversational search — the ability for a second question to build on the first one without starting completely over. This is useful when an AI assistant needs to look up background information to answer your questions. Instead of searching from scratch each time, it can remember what it already looked up and refine from there.

The update also speeds up analytics queries — the kind you might see on a product website when filtering search results by price or brand, or in dashboards that show how a system is performing. These queries are faster now, which means exploratory searching costs less in computing resources.

Why This Matters

These changes reflect how the search market is evolving. More companies are running search systems that serve multiple users with different permission levels. More companies need to handle growing amounts of data. And more companies are building AI applications that need to look up information quickly. Other popular search tools like Elasticsearch have been moving in the same direction. Manticore is keeping pace.