diff --git a/config/config.exs b/config/config.exs
index 8efaf7b..0a12341 100644
--- a/config/config.exs
+++ b/config/config.exs
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ config :bds, :scripting,
   job_timeout: :infinity,
   job_max_reductions: :none
 
+config :bds, :embeddings,
+  backend: BDS.Embeddings.Backends.InApp,
+  model_id: "Xenova/multilingual-e5-small",
+  dimensions: 384
+
 config :logger, :console,
   format: "$time $metadata[$level] $message\n",
   metadata: [:request_id]
diff --git a/lib/bds/embeddings.ex b/lib/bds/embeddings.ex
index 6855d96..c1323c9 100644
--- a/lib/bds/embeddings.ex
+++ b/lib/bds/embeddings.ex
@@ -10,12 +10,10 @@ defmodule BDS.Embeddings do
   alias BDS.Projects
   alias BDS.Repo
 
-  @dimensions 384
   @duplicate_threshold 0.5
-  @model_id "Xenova/multilingual-e5-small"
 
-  def model_id, do: @model_id
-  def dimensions, do: @dimensions
+  def model_id, do: configured_backend().model_info().model_id
+  def dimensions, do: configured_backend().model_info().dimensions
 
   def sync_post(%Post{} = post) do
     if enabled_for_project?(post.project_id) do
@@ -29,7 +27,7 @@ defmodule BDS.Embeddings do
 
         existing_key ->
           label = existing_key_label(existing_key) || next_label()
-          vector = vectorize(raw_text, post.language)
+          {:ok, vector} = embed_text(raw_text, post.language)
 
           (existing_key || %Key{})
           |> Key.changeset(%{
@@ -245,6 +243,11 @@ defmodule BDS.Embeddings do
   defp existing_key_label(nil), do: nil
   defp existing_key_label(%Key{label: label}), do: label
 
+  defp configured_backend do
+    Application.get_env(:bds, :embeddings, [])
+    |> Keyword.get(:backend, BDS.Embeddings.Backends.InApp)
+  end
+
   defp next_label do
     Repo.one(from key in Key, select: max(key.label))
     |> case do
@@ -277,40 +280,12 @@ defmodule BDS.Embeddings do
 
   defp compose_embedding_source(title, content), do: "#{title || ""}\n\n#{content || ""}"
 
+  defp embed_text(raw_text, language) do
+    configured_backend().embed("query: " <> raw_text, language: language)
+  end
+
   defp hash_text(text), do: :crypto.hash(:sha256, text) |> Base.encode16(case: :lower)
 
-  defp vectorize(text, language) do
-    stemmed = BDS.Search.stem(text, language)
-    tokens = tokenize(stemmed)
-    bigrams = tokens |> Enum.chunk_every(2, 1, :discard) |> Enum.map(&Enum.join(&1, "::"))
-    weighted_tokens = tokens ++ bigrams
-    vector_array = :array.new(@dimensions, default: 0.0)
-
-    vector =
-      Enum.reduce(weighted_tokens, vector_array, fn token, acc ->
-        index = :erlang.phash2(token, @dimensions)
-        :array.set(index, :array.get(index, acc) + 1.0, acc)
-      end)
-      |> :array.to_list()
-
-    normalize(vector)
-  end
-
-  defp tokenize(text) do
-    Regex.scan(~r/[[:alnum:]]+/u, String.downcase(text))
-    |> List.flatten()
-  end
-
-  defp normalize(vector) do
-    norm = :math.sqrt(Enum.reduce(vector, 0.0, fn value, acc -> acc + value * value end))
-
-    if norm == 0.0 do
-      vector
-    else
-      Enum.map(vector, &(&1 / norm))
-    end
-  end
-
   defp decode_vector(nil), do: []
   defp decode_vector(vector), do: Jason.decode!(vector)
 
diff --git a/lib/bds/embeddings/backend.ex b/lib/bds/embeddings/backend.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6471e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/bds/embeddings/backend.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+defmodule BDS.Embeddings.Backend do
+  @moduledoc false
+
+  @callback model_info() :: %{model_id: String.t(), dimensions: pos_integer()}
+  @callback embed(String.t(), keyword()) :: {:ok, [number()]} | {:error, term()}
+end
diff --git a/lib/bds/embeddings/backends/in_app.ex b/lib/bds/embeddings/backends/in_app.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9bf768
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/bds/embeddings/backends/in_app.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+defmodule BDS.Embeddings.Backends.InApp do
+  @moduledoc false
+
+  @behaviour BDS.Embeddings.Backend
+
+  @impl true
+  def model_info do
+    config = Application.get_env(:bds, :embeddings, [])
+
+    %{
+      model_id: Keyword.get(config, :model_id, "Xenova/multilingual-e5-small"),
+      dimensions: Keyword.get(config, :dimensions, 384)
+    }
+  end
+
+  @impl true
+  def embed(text, opts) when is_binary(text) and is_list(opts) do
+    language = Keyword.get(opts, :language)
+    dimensions = model_info().dimensions
+
+    vector =
+      text
+      |> BDS.Search.stem(language)
+      |> tokenize()
+      |> weighted_terms()
+      |> project_to_vector(dimensions)
+      |> normalize()
+
+    {:ok, vector}
+  end
+
+  defp tokenize(text) do
+    Regex.scan(~r/[[:alnum:]]+/u, String.downcase(text))
+    |> List.flatten()
+  end
+
+  defp weighted_terms(tokens) do
+    bigrams = tokens |> Enum.chunk_every(2, 1, :discard) |> Enum.map(&Enum.join(&1, "::"))
+    tokens ++ bigrams
+  end
+
+  defp project_to_vector(terms, dimensions) do
+    terms
+    |> Enum.reduce(:array.new(dimensions, default: 0.0), fn term, acc ->
+      index = :erlang.phash2(term, dimensions)
+      :array.set(index, :array.get(index, acc) + 1.0, acc)
+    end)
+    |> :array.to_list()
+  end
+
+  defp normalize(vector) do
+    norm = :math.sqrt(Enum.reduce(vector, 0.0, fn value, acc -> acc + value * value end))
+
+    if norm == 0.0 do
+      vector
+    else
+      Enum.map(vector, &(&1 / norm))
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/bds/posts.ex b/lib/bds/posts.ex
index 8971cca..452c6c2 100644
--- a/lib/bds/posts.ex
+++ b/lib/bds/posts.ex
@@ -547,6 +547,7 @@ defmodule BDS.Posts do
     |> Post.changeset(attrs)
     |> Repo.insert_or_update!()
     |> tap(&Search.sync_post/1)
+    |> tap(&Embeddings.sync_post/1)
   end
 
   defp parse_post_status(status) when is_atom(status), do: status
diff --git a/test/bds/embeddings_test.exs b/test/bds/embeddings_test.exs
index a78b2eb..67dd80c 100644
--- a/test/bds/embeddings_test.exs
+++ b/test/bds/embeddings_test.exs
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
 defmodule BDS.EmbeddingsTest do
   use ExUnit.Case, async: false
 
+  defmodule FakeBackend do
+    @behaviour BDS.Embeddings.Backend
+
+    @impl true
+    def model_info do
+      %{model_id: "fake/multilingual-e5-small", dimensions: 384}
+    end
+
+    @impl true
+    def embed(text, opts) do
+      BDS.Embeddings.Backends.InApp.embed(text, opts)
+    end
+  end
+
   setup do
     :ok = Ecto.Adapters.SQL.Sandbox.checkout(BDS.Repo)
 
@@ -10,6 +24,18 @@ defmodule BDS.EmbeddingsTest do
     on_exit(fn -> File.rm_rf(temp_dir) end)
 
     {:ok, project} = BDS.Projects.create_project(%{name: "Embeddings", data_path: temp_dir})
+
+    previous_config = Application.get_env(:bds, :embeddings)
+    Application.put_env(:bds, :embeddings, backend: FakeBackend)
+
+    on_exit(fn ->
+      if previous_config == nil do
+        Application.delete_env(:bds, :embeddings)
+      else
+        Application.put_env(:bds, :embeddings, previous_config)
+      end
+    end)
+
     %{project: project}
   end
 
@@ -103,4 +129,25 @@ defmodule BDS.EmbeddingsTest do
     assert {:ok, []} = BDS.Embeddings.find_duplicates(project.id)
     assert {:ok, %{}} = BDS.Embeddings.compute_similarities(post.id, [post.id])
   end
+
+  test "embeddings use the configured in-app backend module", %{project: project} do
+    assert {:ok, _metadata} =
+             BDS.Metadata.update_project_metadata(project.id, %{semantic_similarity_enabled: true})
+
+    assert BDS.Embeddings.model_id() == "fake/multilingual-e5-small"
+    assert BDS.Embeddings.dimensions() == 384
+
+    assert {:ok, post} =
+             BDS.Posts.create_post(%{
+               project_id: project.id,
+               title: "Configured Backend",
+               content: "semantic runtime through the configured backend",
+               language: "en"
+             })
+
+    assert {:ok, post} = BDS.Posts.publish_post(post.id)
+
+    assert {:ok, indexed} = BDS.Embeddings.index_unindexed(project.id)
+    assert post.id in indexed
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/bds/maintenance_test.exs b/test/bds/maintenance_test.exs
index 9a1c014..8724fb2 100644
--- a/test/bds/maintenance_test.exs
+++ b/test/bds/maintenance_test.exs
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 defmodule BDS.MaintenanceTest do
   use ExUnit.Case, async: false
 
-  import Ecto.Query
-
   alias BDS.Repo
 
   setup do
@@ -22,6 +20,9 @@ defmodule BDS.MaintenanceTest do
     project: project,
     temp_dir: temp_dir
   } do
+    assert {:ok, _metadata} =
+             BDS.Metadata.update_project_metadata(project.id, %{semantic_similarity_enabled: true})
+
     posts_dir = Path.join([temp_dir, "posts", "2026", "04"])
     File.mkdir_p!(posts_dir)
 
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ defmodule BDS.MaintenanceTest do
 
     assert {:ok, posts} = BDS.Maintenance.rebuild_from_filesystem(project.id, "post")
     assert length(posts) == 1
+    assert Repo.get_by(BDS.Embeddings.Key, project_id: project.id, post_id: "dispatch-post") != nil
 
     assert {:ok, media_items} = BDS.Maintenance.rebuild_from_filesystem(project.id, "media")
     assert length(media_items) == 1