diff --git a/seaweed-vector/Cargo.lock b/seaweed-vector/Cargo.lock
index 8b9da51181..e0b6355053 100644
--- a/seaweed-vector/Cargo.lock
+++ b/seaweed-vector/Cargo.lock
@@ -6486,6 +6486,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "futures",
  "lance",
+ "lance-arrow",
  "lance-linalg",
  "prost",
  "prost-types",
diff --git a/seaweed-vector/crates/server/Cargo.toml b/seaweed-vector/crates/server/Cargo.toml
index 7a8018aee1..71f7f449a2 100644
--- a/seaweed-vector/crates/server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/seaweed-vector/crates/server/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ path = "src/main.rs"
 weed-vector-core = { path = "../core" }
 weed-lance-worker = { path = "../../../seaweed-worker/crates/lance" }
 lance = { version = "10", default-features = false, features = ["aws"] }
+lance-arrow = "10"
 lance-linalg = "10"
 arrow-array = "58"
 arrow-cast = "58"
diff --git a/seaweed-vector/crates/server/src/service.rs b/seaweed-vector/crates/server/src/service.rs
index e49a357ff2..094eb932f8 100644
--- a/seaweed-vector/crates/server/src/service.rs
+++ b/seaweed-vector/crates/server/src/service.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ use lance::io::ObjectStoreParams;
 use lance::io::StorageOptionsAccessor;
 use lance_linalg::distance::DistanceType;
 use prost_types::{ListValue, Struct, Value, value::Kind};
-use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+use std::collections::{BTreeMap, HashMap};
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use tonic::{Request, Response, Status};
 use weed_lance_worker::catalog::NamespaceClient;
@@ -74,17 +74,19 @@ fn schema_for(
         .into_iter()
         .collect(),
     );
-    let mut metadata_field = Field::new(METADATA_COLUMN, DataType::Utf8, true);
+    // The arrow.json extension marks the Utf8 column as JSON: lance stores it
+    // as jsonb, which is what the json_get_* filter functions take.
+    let mut metadata_meta = HashMap::from_iter([(
+        "ARROW:extension:name".to_string(),
+        "arrow.json".to_string(),
+    )]);
     if !non_filterable.is_empty() {
-        metadata_field = metadata_field.with_metadata(
-            [(
-                "non_filterable_metadata_keys".to_string(),
-                serde_json::to_string(non_filterable).unwrap_or_default(),
-            )]
-            .into_iter()
-            .collect(),
+        metadata_meta.insert(
+            "non_filterable_metadata_keys".to_string(),
+            serde_json::to_string(non_filterable).unwrap_or_default(),
         );
     }
+    let metadata_field = Field::new(METADATA_COLUMN, DataType::Utf8, true).with_metadata(metadata_meta);
     Arc::new(Schema::new(vec![
         Field::new(KEY_COLUMN, DataType::Utf8, false),
         vector_field,
@@ -110,8 +112,18 @@ fn batch_of(vectors: &[pb::Vector], dimension: usize, schema: Arc<Schema>) -> Re
         .flat_map(|v| v.data.iter().copied())
         .collect::<Vec<_>>();
     let values: ArrayRef = Arc::new(Float32Array::from(flat));
+    // Lance stores the list item as nullable even when the write schema
+    // declared it non-null, so the child field must come from the batch's
+    // schema rather than a fixed declaration.
+    let DataType::FixedSizeList(item_field, _) = schema
+        .field_with_name(VECTOR_COLUMN)
+        .map_err(anyhow::Error::from)?
+        .data_type()
+    else {
+        bail!("vector column is not a fixed-size list");
+    };
     let vectors_array = FixedSizeListArray::try_new(
-        Field::new("item", DataType::Float32, false).into(),
+        item_field.clone(),
         dimension as i32,
         values,
         None,
@@ -125,13 +137,20 @@ fn batch_of(vectors: &[pb::Vector], dimension: usize, schema: Arc<Schema>) -> Re
                 .transpose()
         })
         .collect::<Result<Vec<_>, _>>()?;
+    // The stored column is lance's jsonb (LargeBinary) once the field carries
+    // the arrow.json extension; encode the strings, else keep the Utf8 batch.
+    let metadata_array: ArrayRef = match schema
+        .field_with_name(METADATA_COLUMN)
+        .map(|f| f.data_type())
+    {
+        Ok(DataType::LargeBinary) => {
+            Arc::new(lance_arrow::json::JsonArray::try_from_iter(metas)?.into_inner())
+        }
+        _ => Arc::new(StringArray::from(metas)),
+    };
     RecordBatch::try_new(
         schema,
-        vec![
-            Arc::new(keys),
-            Arc::new(vectors_array),
-            Arc::new(StringArray::from(metas)),
-        ],
+        vec![Arc::new(keys), Arc::new(vectors_array), metadata_array],
     )
     .map_err(Into::into)
 }
diff --git a/test/vectors/run_test.sh b/test/vectors/run_test.sh
index 5de199f032..cb2d72c7b3 100755
--- a/test/vectors/run_test.sh
+++ b/test/vectors/run_test.sh
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ PIDS+=($!)
 
 ./weed s3 \
   -filer 127.0.0.1:8888 \
+  -config s3.json \
   -ip 127.0.0.1 \
   -ip.bind 127.0.0.1 \
   -port 8334 \
@@ -29,6 +30,8 @@ PIDS+=($!)
 
 ./weed-vector-server \
   --namespace http://127.0.0.1:9102 \
+  --storage-option aws_access_key_id=test \
+  --storage-option aws_secret_access_key=test \
   --listen 127.0.0.1:9301 &
 PIDS+=($!)
 
diff --git a/test/vectors/s3.json b/test/vectors/s3.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a95df73362
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/vectors/s3.json
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{
+  "identities": [
+    {
+      "name": "admin",
+      "credentials": [
+        {
+          "accessKey": "test",
+          "secretKey": "test"
+        }
+      ],
+      "actions": [
+        "Admin",
+        "Read",
+        "List",
+        "Tagging",
+        "Write"
+      ]
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/weed/s3api/s3vectors/handlers.go b/weed/s3api/s3vectors/handlers.go
index 3f0e8ef0b5..583f51cb90 100644
--- a/weed/s3api/s3vectors/handlers.go
+++ b/weed/s3api/s3vectors/handlers.go
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ func filterExpr(filter map[string]interface{}) (string, error) {
 }
 
 func fieldClause(field string, cond interface{}) (string, error) {
-	col := fmt.Sprintf("json_get_str(`metadata`, '%s')", strings.ReplaceAll(field, "'", "''"))
+	col := fmt.Sprintf("json_get_string(`metadata`, '%s')", strings.ReplaceAll(field, "'", "''"))
 	switch c := cond.(type) {
 	case map[string]interface{}:
 		parts := []string{}