diff --git a/apps/multimodal/vision-based-pdf-multi-vector/leann_multi_vector.py b/apps/multimodal/vision-based-pdf-multi-vector/leann_multi_vector.py
index 075bb3d..7168ac2 100644
--- a/apps/multimodal/vision-based-pdf-multi-vector/leann_multi_vector.py
+++ b/apps/multimodal/vision-based-pdf-multi-vector/leann_multi_vector.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import concurrent.futures
+import glob
 import json
 import os
 import re
@@ -96,12 +97,63 @@ def _natural_sort_key(name: str) -> int:
     return int(m.group()) if m else 0
 
 
-def _load_images_from_dir(pages_dir: str) -> tuple[list[str], list[Image.Image]]:
-    filenames = [n for n in os.listdir(pages_dir) if n.lower().endswith((".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg"))]
-    filenames = sorted(filenames, key=_natural_sort_key)
-    filepaths = [os.path.join(pages_dir, n) for n in filenames]
-    images = [Image.open(p) for p in filepaths]
-    return filepaths, images
+def _load_images_from_dir(
+    pages_dir: str, recursive: bool = False
+) -> tuple[list[str], list[Image.Image]]:
+    """
+    Load images from a directory.
+
+    Args:
+        pages_dir: Directory path containing images
+        recursive: If True, recursively search subdirectories (default: False)
+
+    Returns:
+        Tuple of (filepaths, images)
+    """
+
+    # Supported image extensions
+    extensions = ("*.png", "*.jpg", "*.jpeg", "*.PNG", "*.JPG", "*.JPEG", "*.webp", "*.WEBP")
+
+    if recursive:
+        # Recursive search
+        filepaths = []
+        for ext in extensions:
+            pattern = os.path.join(pages_dir, "**", ext)
+            filepaths.extend(glob.glob(pattern, recursive=True))
+    else:
+        # Non-recursive search (only top-level directory)
+        filepaths = []
+        for ext in extensions:
+            pattern = os.path.join(pages_dir, ext)
+            filepaths.extend(glob.glob(pattern))
+
+    # Sort files naturally
+    filepaths = sorted(filepaths, key=lambda x: _natural_sort_key(os.path.basename(x)))
+
+    # Load images with error handling
+    images = []
+    valid_filepaths = []
+    failed_count = 0
+
+    for filepath in filepaths:
+        try:
+            img = Image.open(filepath)
+            # Convert to RGB if necessary (handles RGBA, P, etc.)
+            if img.mode != "RGB":
+                img = img.convert("RGB")
+            images.append(img)
+            valid_filepaths.append(filepath)
+        except Exception as e:
+            failed_count += 1
+            print(f"Warning: Failed to load image {filepath}: {e}")
+            continue
+
+    if failed_count > 0:
+        print(
+            f"Warning: Failed to load {failed_count} image(s) out of {len(filepaths)} total files"
+        )
+
+    return valid_filepaths, images
 
 
 def _maybe_convert_pdf_to_images(pdf_path: Optional[str], pages_dir: str, dpi: int = 200) -> None:
diff --git a/apps/multimodal/vision-based-pdf-multi-vector/multi-vector-leann-similarity-map.py b/apps/multimodal/vision-based-pdf-multi-vector/multi-vector-leann-similarity-map.py
index 42b4f00..fcde09f 100644
--- a/apps/multimodal/vision-based-pdf-multi-vector/multi-vector-leann-similarity-map.py
+++ b/apps/multimodal/vision-based-pdf-multi-vector/multi-vector-leann-similarity-map.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ DATASET_NAME: str = "weaviate/arXiv-AI-papers-multi-vector"
 # DATASET_NAMES: Optional[list[str | tuple[str, Optional[str]]]] = None
 DATASET_NAMES = [
     "weaviate/arXiv-AI-papers-multi-vector",
-    ("lmms-lab/DocVQA", "DocVQA"),  # Specify config name for datasets with multiple configs
+    # ("lmms-lab/DocVQA", "DocVQA"),  # Specify config name for datasets with multiple configs
 ]
 # Load multiple splits to get more data (e.g., ["train", "test", "validation"])
 # Set to None to try loading all available splits automatically
@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ MAX_DOCS: Optional[int] = None  # limit number of pages to index; None = all
 # Local pages (used when USE_HF_DATASET == False)
 PDF: Optional[str] = None  # e.g., "./pdfs/2004.12832v2.pdf"
 PAGES_DIR: str = "./pages"
+# Custom folder path (takes precedence over USE_HF_DATASET and PAGES_DIR)
+# If set, images will be loaded directly from this folder
+CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH: Optional[str] = None  # e.g., "/home/ubuntu/dr-tulu/agent/screenshots"
+# Whether to recursively search subdirectories when loading from custom folder
+CUSTOM_FOLDER_RECURSIVE: bool = False  # Set to True to search subdirectories
 
 # Index + retrieval settings
 # Use a different index path for larger dataset to avoid overwriting existing index
@@ -83,7 +88,7 @@ INDEX_PATH: str = "./indexes/colvision_large.leann"
 # These are now command-line arguments (see CLI overrides section)
 TOPK: int = 3
 FIRST_STAGE_K: int = 500
-REBUILD_INDEX: bool = True
+REBUILD_INDEX: bool = False  # Set to True to force rebuild even if index exists
 
 # Artifacts
 SAVE_TOP_IMAGE: Optional[str] = "./figures/retrieved_page.png"
@@ -128,12 +133,33 @@ parser.add_argument(
     default=TOPK,
     help=f"Number of top results to retrieve. Default: {TOPK}",
 )
+parser.add_argument(
+    "--custom-folder",
+    type=str,
+    default=None,
+    help="Path to a custom folder containing images to search. Takes precedence over dataset loading. Default: None",
+)
+parser.add_argument(
+    "--recursive",
+    action="store_true",
+    default=False,
+    help="Recursively search subdirectories when loading images from custom folder. Default: False",
+)
+parser.add_argument(
+    "--rebuild-index",
+    action="store_true",
+    default=False,
+    help="Force rebuild the index even if it already exists. Default: False (reuse existing index if available)",
+)
 cli_args, _unknown = parser.parse_known_args()
 SEARCH_METHOD: str = cli_args.search_method
 QUERY = cli_args.query  # Override QUERY with CLI argument if provided
 USE_FAST_PLAID: bool = cli_args.use_fast_plaid
 FAST_PLAID_INDEX_PATH: str = cli_args.fast_plaid_index_path
 TOPK: int = cli_args.topk  # Override TOPK with CLI argument if provided
+CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH = cli_args.custom_folder if cli_args.custom_folder else CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH  # Override with CLI argument if provided
+CUSTOM_FOLDER_RECURSIVE = cli_args.recursive if cli_args.recursive else CUSTOM_FOLDER_RECURSIVE  # Override with CLI argument if provided
+REBUILD_INDEX = cli_args.rebuild_index  # Override REBUILD_INDEX with CLI argument
 
 # %%
 
@@ -180,7 +206,23 @@ else:
 # Step 2: Load data only if we need to build the index
 if need_to_build_index:
     print("Loading dataset...")
-    if USE_HF_DATASET:
+    # Check for custom folder path first (takes precedence)
+    if CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH:
+        if not os.path.isdir(CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH):
+            raise RuntimeError(f"Custom folder path does not exist: {CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH}")
+        print(f"Loading images from custom folder: {CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH}")
+        if CUSTOM_FOLDER_RECURSIVE:
+            print("  (recursive mode: searching subdirectories)")
+        filepaths, images = _load_images_from_dir(CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH, recursive=CUSTOM_FOLDER_RECURSIVE)
+        print(f"  Found {len(filepaths)} image files")
+        if not images:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                f"No images found in {CUSTOM_FOLDER_PATH}. Ensure the folder contains image files (.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .webp)."
+            )
+        print(f"  Successfully loaded {len(images)} images")
+        # Use filenames as identifiers instead of full paths for cleaner metadata
+        filepaths = [os.path.basename(fp) for fp in filepaths]
+    elif USE_HF_DATASET:
         from datasets import load_dataset, concatenate_datasets, DatasetDict
 
         # Determine which datasets to load
@@ -621,7 +663,6 @@ else:
             except Exception:
                 print(f"Saved retrieved page (rank {rank}) to: {out_path}")
 
-## TODO stange results of second page of DeepSeek-V2 rather than the first page
 
 # %%
 # Step 6: Similarity maps for top-K results