diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 45dfde5..b6af8fa 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -67,6 +67,13 @@ release:
 	cmake $(GENERATOR) $(BUILD_FLAGS)  $(CLIENT_FLAGS)  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -S ./duckdb/ -B build/release && \
 	cmake --build build/release --config Release
 
+
+reldebug:
+	mkdir -p build/reldebug && \
+	cmake $(GENERATOR) $(BUILD_FLAGS)  $(CLIENT_FLAGS)  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -S ./duckdb/ -B build/reldebug && \
+	cmake --build build/reldebug --config RelWithDebInfo
+
+
 ##### Client build
 JS_BUILD_FLAGS=-DBUILD_NODE=1 -DDUCKDB_EXTENSION_${EXTENSION_NAME}_SHOULD_LINK=0
 PY_BUILD_FLAGS=-DBUILD_PYTHON=1 -DDUCKDB_EXTENSION_${EXTENSION_NAME}_SHOULD_LINK=0
diff --git a/src/hnsw/hnsw_index.cpp b/src/hnsw/hnsw_index.cpp
index 05271b2..944b64a 100644
--- a/src/hnsw/hnsw_index.cpp
+++ b/src/hnsw/hnsw_index.cpp
@@ -444,8 +444,16 @@ ErrorData HNSWIndex::Insert(IndexLock &lock, DataChunk &input, Vector &rowid_vec
 	return ErrorData {};
 }
 
-ErrorData HNSWIndex::Append(IndexLock &lock, DataChunk &entries, Vector &rowid_vec) {
-	Construct(entries, rowid_vec, unum::usearch::index_dense_t::any_thread());
+ErrorData HNSWIndex::Append(IndexLock &lock, DataChunk &appended_data, Vector &row_identifiers) {
+	DataChunk expression_result;
+	expression_result.Initialize(Allocator::DefaultAllocator(), logical_types);
+
+	// first resolve the expressions for the index
+	ExecuteExpressions(appended_data, expression_result);
+
+	// now insert into the index
+	Construct(expression_result, row_identifiers, unum::usearch::index_dense_t::any_thread());
+
 	return ErrorData {};
 }
 
diff --git a/src/hnsw/hnsw_plan_index_scan.cpp b/src/hnsw/hnsw_plan_index_scan.cpp
index fe4f9d4..6bef6be 100644
--- a/src/hnsw/hnsw_plan_index_scan.cpp
+++ b/src/hnsw/hnsw_plan_index_scan.cpp
@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
-#include "duckdb/optimizer/optimizer_extension.hpp"
 #include "duckdb/catalog/catalog_entry/duck_table_entry.hpp"
-#include "duckdb/planner/expression/bound_function_expression.hpp"
+#include "duckdb/optimizer/column_lifetime_analyzer.hpp"
+#include "duckdb/optimizer/optimizer_extension.hpp"
 #include "duckdb/planner/expression/bound_constant_expression.hpp"
-#include "duckdb/planner/operator/logical_top_n.hpp"
+#include "duckdb/planner/expression/bound_function_expression.hpp"
 #include "duckdb/planner/operator/logical_get.hpp"
 #include "duckdb/planner/operator/logical_projection.hpp"
+#include "duckdb/planner/operator/logical_top_n.hpp"
 #include "duckdb/storage/data_table.hpp"
-
 #include "hnsw/hnsw.hpp"
 #include "hnsw/hnsw_index.hpp"
 #include "hnsw/hnsw_index_scan.hpp"
+#include "duckdb/optimizer/remove_unused_columns.hpp"
+#include "duckdb/planner/expression_iterator.hpp"
 
 namespace duckdb {
 
@@ -22,12 +24,12 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 		optimize_function = HNSWIndexScanOptimizer::Optimize;
 	}
 
-	static void TryOptimize(ClientContext &context, OptimizerExtensionInfo *info, unique_ptr<LogicalOperator> &plan) {
+	static bool TryOptimize(ClientContext &context, OptimizerExtensionInfo *info, unique_ptr<LogicalOperator> &plan) {
 		// Look for a TopN operator
 		auto &op = *plan;
 
 		if (op.type != LogicalOperatorType::LOGICAL_TOP_N) {
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		// Look for a expression that is a distance expression
@@ -35,19 +37,19 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 
 		if (top_n.orders.size() != 1) {
 			// We can only optimize if there is a single order by expression right now
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		auto &order = top_n.orders[0];
 
 		if (order.type != OrderType::ASCENDING) {
 			// We can only optimize if the order by expression is ascending
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		if (order.expression->type != ExpressionType::BOUND_COLUMN_REF) {
 			// The expression has to reference the child operator (a projection with the distance function)
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 		auto &bound_column_ref = order.expression->Cast<BoundColumnRefExpression>();
 
@@ -55,19 +57,19 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 		auto &immediate_child = top_n.children[0];
 		if (immediate_child->type != LogicalOperatorType::LOGICAL_PROJECTION) {
 			// The child has to be a projection
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 		auto &projection = immediate_child->Cast<LogicalProjection>();
 		auto projection_index = bound_column_ref.binding.column_index;
 
 		if (projection.expressions[projection_index]->type != ExpressionType::BOUND_FUNCTION) {
 			// The expression has to be a function
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 		auto &bound_function = projection.expressions[projection_index]->Cast<BoundFunctionExpression>();
 		if (!HNSWIndex::IsDistanceFunction(bound_function.function.name)) {
 			// We can only optimize if the order by expression is a distance function
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		// Figure out the query vector
@@ -78,7 +80,7 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 			target_value = bound_function.children[1]->Cast<BoundConstantExpression>().value;
 		} else {
 			// We can only optimize if one of the children is a constant
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		// TODO: We should check that the other argument to the distance function is a column reference
@@ -87,7 +89,7 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 		auto value_type = target_value.type();
 		if (value_type.id() != LogicalTypeId::ARRAY) {
 			// We can only optimize if the constant is an array
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 		auto array_size = ArrayType::GetSize(value_type);
 		auto array_inner_type = ArrayType::GetChildType(value_type);
@@ -96,7 +98,7 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 			bool ok = target_value.DefaultTryCastAs(LogicalType::ARRAY(LogicalType::FLOAT, array_size), true);
 			if (!ok) {
 				// We can only optimize if the array is of floats or we can cast it to floats
-				return;
+				return false;
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -106,7 +108,7 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 			// TODO: Handle joins?
 			if (child->children.size() != 1) {
 				// Either 0 or more than 1 child
-				return;
+				return false;
 			}
 			child = child->children[0].get();
 		}
@@ -114,7 +116,7 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 		auto &get = child->Cast<LogicalGet>();
 		// Check if the get is a table scan
 		if (get.function.name != "seq_scan") {
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		// We have a top-n operator on top of a table scan
@@ -124,7 +126,7 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 		auto &table = *get.GetTable();
 		if (!table.IsDuckTable()) {
 			// We can only replace the scan if the table is a duck table
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		auto &duck_table = table.Cast<DuckTableEntry>();
@@ -166,7 +168,7 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 
 		if (!bind_data) {
 			// No index found
-			return;
+			return false;
 		}
 
 		// Replace the scan with our custom index scan function
@@ -177,17 +179,69 @@ class HNSWIndexScanOptimizer : public OptimizerExtension {
 		get.estimated_cardinality = cardinality->estimated_cardinality;
 		get.bind_data = std::move(bind_data);
 
+
+		// Remove the distance function from the projection
+		// projection.expressions.erase(projection.expressions.begin() + static_cast<ptrdiff_t>(projection_index));
+		//top_n.expressions
+
 		// Remove the TopN operator
 		plan = std::move(top_n.children[0]);
+		return true;
 	}
 
-	static void Optimize(ClientContext &context, OptimizerExtensionInfo *info, unique_ptr<LogicalOperator> &plan) {
-
-		TryOptimize(context, info, plan);
+	static bool OptimizeChildren(ClientContext &context, OptimizerExtensionInfo *info, unique_ptr<LogicalOperator> &plan) {
 
+		auto ok = TryOptimize(context, info, plan);
 		// Recursively optimize the children
 		for (auto &child : plan->children) {
-			Optimize(context, info, child);
+			ok |= OptimizeChildren(context, info, child);
+		}
+		return ok;
+	}
+
+	static void MergeProjections(unique_ptr<LogicalOperator> &plan) {
+		if(plan->type == LogicalOperatorType::LOGICAL_PROJECTION) {
+			if(plan->children[0]->type == LogicalOperatorType::LOGICAL_PROJECTION) {
+				auto &child = plan->children[0];
+
+				if(child->children[0]->type == LogicalOperatorType::LOGICAL_GET && child->children[0]->Cast<LogicalGet>().function.name == "hnsw_index_scan") {
+					auto &parent_projection = plan->Cast<LogicalProjection>();
+					auto &child_projection = child->Cast<LogicalProjection>();
+
+					column_binding_set_t referenced_bindings;
+					for(auto &expr : parent_projection.expressions) {
+						ExpressionIterator::EnumerateExpression(expr, [&](Expression& expr_ref) {
+							if(expr_ref.type == ExpressionType::BOUND_COLUMN_REF) {
+								auto &bound_column_ref = expr_ref.Cast<BoundColumnRefExpression>();
+								referenced_bindings.insert(bound_column_ref.binding);
+							}
+						});
+					}
+
+					auto child_bindings = child_projection.GetColumnBindings();
+					for(idx_t i = 0; i < child_projection.expressions.size(); i++) {
+						auto &expr = child_projection.expressions[i];
+						auto &outgoing_binding = child_bindings[i];
+
+						if(referenced_bindings.find(outgoing_binding) == referenced_bindings.end()) {
+							// The binding is not referenced
+							// We can remove this expression. But positionality matters so just replace with int.
+							expr = make_uniq_base<Expression, BoundConstantExpression>(Value(LogicalType::TINYINT));
+						}
+					}
+					return;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		for(auto &child : plan->children) {
+			MergeProjections(child);
+		}
+	}
+
+	static void Optimize(ClientContext &context, OptimizerExtensionInfo *info, unique_ptr<LogicalOperator> &plan) {
+		auto did_use_hnsw_scan = OptimizeChildren(context, info, plan);
+		if(did_use_hnsw_scan) {
+			MergeProjections(plan);
 		}
 	}
 };