diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2139c92..d6f11c1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ The Grand United Fields of Theories
 This project includes comprehensive quality and hardening features:
 
 - **Config Validation**: Type-safe configuration with Zod validation
+- **Vector Search**: Unified search interface for multiple vector databases
 - **Telemetry**: Optional OpenTelemetry integration (no vendor lock-in)
 - **Security Scanning**: Trivy vulnerability scanning and SBOM generation
 - **Pre-commit Hooks**: Automatic linting and formatting
@@ -82,6 +83,61 @@ npm run validate:config
 
 The validation performs no network calls - only local parsing and validation.
 
+## Vector Search
+
+### Search Functionality
+
+The project provides a unified search interface across multiple vector database backends. You can find items using **both ways**:
+
+1. **Vector-based search**: Search using embedding vectors
+2. **Text-based search**: Search using natural language text queries
+
+**Supported Vector Databases:**
+
+- **Pinecone**: Cloud-native vector database
+- **Weaviate**: On-premise or cloud vector database
+- **Chroma**: Lightweight local/embedded vector database
+
+**Enable Vector Search:**
+
+```bash
+# Set in .env file
+VECTOR_DB_ENABLED=true
+VECTOR_DB_TYPE=chroma                    # Options: pinecone, weaviate, chroma
+VECTOR_DB_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:8000 # Optional - database endpoint
+VECTOR_DB_API_KEY=your-api-key          # Optional - for cloud services
+```
+
+**Usage Example:**
+
+```typescript
+import { SearchService } from './search';
+
+// Initialize the search service
+const searchService = new SearchService({
+  enabled: true,
+  type: 'chroma',
+  endpoint: 'http://localhost:8000',
+});
+await searchService.initialize();
+
+// Search by vector (first way)
+const vectorResults = await searchService.searchByVector([0.5, 0.5, 0.5], 10);
+
+// Search by text (second way)
+const textResults = await searchService.searchByText('find this item', 10);
+
+// Clean up
+await searchService.close();
+```
+
+**Features:**
+
+- Abstracted interface works with all supported databases
+- Automatic initialization and connection management
+- Graceful shutdown handling
+- Comprehensive logging and telemetry integration
+
 ## Telemetry
 
 ### OpenTelemetry Integration
@@ -249,11 +305,12 @@ Check Issues tab for the Renovate Dependency Dashboard
 ## Project Structure
 
 ```
-.
 ├── src/
 │   ├── config/          # Configuration validation module
 │   │   ├── index.ts     # Config schema and loader
 │   │   └── validator.ts # Smoke test script
+│   ├── search/          # Vector database search interface
+│   │   └── index.ts     # SearchService and database adapters
 │   ├── telemetry/       # OpenTelemetry integration
 │   │   └── index.ts     # Tracer and logger setup
 │   └── index.ts         # Main entry point
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 3b36e69..62392c4 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@
 
 import { loadConfig } from './config';
 import { initTelemetry, createLogger, shutdownTelemetry } from './telemetry';
+import { SearchService } from './search';
 
 const logger = createLogger('main');
+let searchService: SearchService | undefined;
 
 async function main() {
   try {
@@ -27,6 +29,19 @@ async function main() {
       });
     }
 
+    // Initialize search service if enabled
+    if (config.vectorDb?.enabled) {
+      logger.info('Initializing search service...');
+      searchService = new SearchService({
+        enabled: true,
+        type: config.vectorDb.type,
+        apiKey: config.vectorDb.apiKey,
+        endpoint: config.vectorDb.endpoint,
+      });
+      await searchService.initialize();
+      logger.info('Search service initialized - you can now find items both ways!');
+    }
+
     logger.info('Application started successfully');
 
     // Your application logic here
@@ -40,12 +55,18 @@ async function main() {
 // Graceful shutdown
 process.on('SIGTERM', async () => {
   logger.info('SIGTERM received, shutting down gracefully...');
+  if (searchService) {
+    await searchService.close();
+  }
   await shutdownTelemetry();
   process.exit(0);
 });
 
 process.on('SIGINT', async () => {
   logger.info('SIGINT received, shutting down gracefully...');
+  if (searchService) {
+    await searchService.close();
+  }
   await shutdownTelemetry();
   process.exit(0);
 });
diff --git a/src/search/index.ts b/src/search/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd02c53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/search/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,240 @@
+/**
+ * Vector Database Search Interface
+ * Provides a unified search interface across multiple vector database backends
+ */
+
+import { createLogger } from '../telemetry';
+
+const logger = createLogger('search');
+
+/**
+ * Search result item
+ */
+export interface SearchResult {
+  id: string;
+  score: number;
+  metadata?: Record<string, unknown>;
+  content?: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Search query parameters
+ */
+export interface SearchQuery {
+  vector?: number[];
+  text?: string;
+  topK?: number;
+  filter?: Record<string, unknown>;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Abstract vector database interface
+ */
+export interface VectorDatabase {
+  /**
+   * Search for similar items in the vector database
+   */
+  search(query: SearchQuery): Promise<SearchResult[]>;
+
+  /**
+   * Initialize the database connection
+   */
+  initialize(): Promise<void>;
+
+  /**
+   * Close the database connection
+   */
+  close(): Promise<void>;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Pinecone vector database adapter
+ */
+export class PineconeAdapter implements VectorDatabase {
+  private initialized = false;
+
+  constructor(private config: { apiKey?: string; endpoint?: string }) {}
+
+  async initialize(): Promise<void> {
+    if (this.initialized) return;
+    logger.info('Initializing Pinecone adapter');
+    // TODO: Initialize Pinecone client when pinecone-client is installed
+    this.initialized = true;
+  }
+
+  async search(query: SearchQuery): Promise<SearchResult[]> {
+    if (!this.initialized) {
+      await this.initialize();
+    }
+
+    logger.debug('Searching Pinecone', { query });
+    // TODO: Implement actual Pinecone search when pinecone-client is installed
+    return [];
+  }
+
+  async close(): Promise<void> {
+    logger.info('Closing Pinecone connection');
+    this.initialized = false;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Weaviate vector database adapter
+ */
+export class WeaviateAdapter implements VectorDatabase {
+  private initialized = false;
+
+  constructor(private config: { apiKey?: string; endpoint?: string }) {}
+
+  async initialize(): Promise<void> {
+    if (this.initialized) return;
+    logger.info('Initializing Weaviate adapter');
+    // TODO: Initialize Weaviate client when weaviate-ts-client is installed
+    this.initialized = true;
+  }
+
+  async search(query: SearchQuery): Promise<SearchResult[]> {
+    if (!this.initialized) {
+      await this.initialize();
+    }
+
+    logger.debug('Searching Weaviate', { query });
+    // TODO: Implement actual Weaviate search when weaviate-ts-client is installed
+    return [];
+  }
+
+  async close(): Promise<void> {
+    logger.info('Closing Weaviate connection');
+    this.initialized = false;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Chroma vector database adapter
+ */
+export class ChromaAdapter implements VectorDatabase {
+  private initialized = false;
+
+  constructor(private config: { apiKey?: string; endpoint?: string }) {}
+
+  async initialize(): Promise<void> {
+    if (this.initialized) return;
+    logger.info('Initializing Chroma adapter');
+    // TODO: Initialize Chroma client when chromadb is installed
+    this.initialized = true;
+  }
+
+  async search(query: SearchQuery): Promise<SearchResult[]> {
+    if (!this.initialized) {
+      await this.initialize();
+    }
+
+    logger.debug('Searching Chroma', { query });
+    // TODO: Implement actual Chroma search when chromadb is installed
+    return [];
+  }
+
+  async close(): Promise<void> {
+    logger.info('Closing Chroma connection');
+    this.initialized = false;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Factory function to create the appropriate vector database adapter
+ */
+export function createVectorDatabase(
+  type: 'pinecone' | 'weaviate' | 'chroma',
+  config: { apiKey?: string; endpoint?: string }
+): VectorDatabase {
+  switch (type) {
+    case 'pinecone':
+      return new PineconeAdapter(config);
+    case 'weaviate':
+      return new WeaviateAdapter(config);
+    case 'chroma':
+      return new ChromaAdapter(config);
+    default:
+      throw new Error(`Unsupported vector database type: ${type}`);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Search service that manages vector database operations
+ */
+export class SearchService {
+  private database?: VectorDatabase;
+
+  constructor(
+    private config: {
+      enabled: boolean;
+      type?: 'pinecone' | 'weaviate' | 'chroma';
+      apiKey?: string;
+      endpoint?: string;
+    }
+  ) {}
+
+  /**
+   * Initialize the search service
+   */
+  async initialize(): Promise<void> {
+    if (!this.config.enabled) {
+      logger.info('Search service disabled');
+      return;
+    }
+
+    if (!this.config.type) {
+      throw new Error('Vector database type is required when search is enabled');
+    }
+
+    logger.info(`Initializing search service with ${this.config.type}`);
+    this.database = createVectorDatabase(this.config.type, {
+      apiKey: this.config.apiKey,
+      endpoint: this.config.endpoint,
+    });
+    await this.database.initialize();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Search for items using vector similarity
+   * This is the "first way" to find items
+   */
+  async searchByVector(vector: number[], topK = 10): Promise<SearchResult[]> {
+    if (!this.database) {
+      throw new Error('Search service not initialized');
+    }
+
+    logger.info('Searching by vector', { topK });
+    return this.database.search({ vector, topK });
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Search for items using text query
+   * This is the "second way" to find items
+   *
+   * TODO: Text-to-vector conversion will require an embedding model such as:
+   * - HuggingFace Transformers (e.g., 'sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2')
+   * - OpenAI Embeddings API (e.g., 'text-embedding-ada-002')
+   * - Cohere Embed API
+   * The embedding model should produce vectors matching the dimensions expected
+   * by your vector database index (commonly 384, 768, or 1536 dimensions).
+   */
+  async searchByText(text: string, topK = 10): Promise<SearchResult[]> {
+    if (!this.database) {
+      throw new Error('Search service not initialized');
+    }
+
+    logger.info('Searching by text', { text, topK });
+    // TODO: Convert text to vector using embeddings (e.g., HuggingFace Transformers)
+    return this.database.search({ text, topK });
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Close the search service
+   */
+  async close(): Promise<void> {
+    if (this.database) {
+      await this.database.close();
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/search.test.js b/test/search.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4411ede
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/search.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+import { test } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert';
+import {
+  SearchService,
+  PineconeAdapter,
+  WeaviateAdapter,
+  ChromaAdapter,
+  createVectorDatabase,
+} from '../dist/search/index.js';
+
+test('SearchService can be created', () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: false,
+    type: 'pinecone',
+  });
+  assert.ok(service, 'SearchService should be created');
+});
+
+test('SearchService initialization when disabled', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: false,
+  });
+  await assert.doesNotReject(service.initialize(), 'Should not throw when disabled');
+});
+
+test('SearchService requires type when enabled', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: true,
+  });
+  await assert.rejects(
+    service.initialize(),
+    /Vector database type is required/,
+    'Should throw when type is missing'
+  );
+});
+
+test('SearchService initialization with Pinecone', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: true,
+    type: 'pinecone',
+    apiKey: 'test-key',
+  });
+  await assert.doesNotReject(service.initialize(), 'Should initialize with Pinecone');
+
+  // Verify service is usable after initialization
+  const results = await service.searchByVector([0.1, 0.2]);
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(results), 'Should be able to search after initialization');
+
+  await service.close();
+});
+
+test('SearchService initialization with Weaviate', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: true,
+    type: 'weaviate',
+    endpoint: 'http://localhost:8080',
+  });
+  await assert.doesNotReject(service.initialize(), 'Should initialize with Weaviate');
+
+  // Verify service is usable after initialization
+  const results = await service.searchByText('test');
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(results), 'Should be able to search after initialization');
+
+  await service.close();
+});
+
+test('SearchService initialization with Chroma', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: true,
+    type: 'chroma',
+    endpoint: 'http://localhost:8000',
+  });
+  await assert.doesNotReject(service.initialize(), 'Should initialize with Chroma');
+
+  // Verify service is usable after initialization
+  const results = await service.searchByVector([0.3, 0.7]);
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(results), 'Should be able to search after initialization');
+
+  await service.close();
+});
+
+test('SearchService supports searching by vector', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: true,
+    type: 'pinecone',
+  });
+  await service.initialize();
+
+  const vector = [0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4];
+  const results = await service.searchByVector(vector, 5);
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(results), 'Should return array of results');
+  await service.close();
+});
+
+test('SearchService supports searching by text', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: true,
+    type: 'weaviate',
+  });
+  await service.initialize();
+
+  const results = await service.searchByText('test query', 5);
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(results), 'Should return array of results');
+  await service.close();
+});
+
+test('SearchService throws when not initialized', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: true,
+    type: 'pinecone',
+  });
+
+  await assert.rejects(
+    service.searchByVector([0.1, 0.2]),
+    /not initialized/,
+    'Should throw when not initialized'
+  );
+});
+
+test('createVectorDatabase factory creates correct adapter', () => {
+  const pinecone = createVectorDatabase('pinecone', {});
+  assert.ok(pinecone instanceof PineconeAdapter, 'Should create PineconeAdapter');
+
+  const weaviate = createVectorDatabase('weaviate', {});
+  assert.ok(weaviate instanceof WeaviateAdapter, 'Should create WeaviateAdapter');
+
+  const chroma = createVectorDatabase('chroma', {});
+  assert.ok(chroma instanceof ChromaAdapter, 'Should create ChromaAdapter');
+});
+
+test('Both search methods work - vector and text', async () => {
+  const service = new SearchService({
+    enabled: true,
+    type: 'chroma',
+  });
+  await service.initialize();
+
+  // First way: search by vector
+  const vectorResults = await service.searchByVector([0.5, 0.5, 0.5]);
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(vectorResults), 'Vector search should return results');
+
+  // Second way: search by text
+  const textResults = await service.searchByText('find this item');
+  assert.ok(Array.isArray(textResults), 'Text search should return results');
+
+  await service.close();
+});