RyanCodrai/turbovec · error · ValueError

embedder returned None instead of a query embedding

Error message

embedder returned None instead of a query embedding

What it means

Raised in _validate_query_embedding when the embedder's embed_query returned None instead of a vector (called from similarity_search_with_score and its async variant). Named here so the failure points at the embedder rather than surfacing as an opaque kernel error on the raw value.

Source

Thrown at turbovec-python/python/turbovec/langchain.py:213

        if vectors.ndim != 2:
            return
        if vectors.shape[0] != n_texts:
            raise ValueError(
                f"embedder returned {vectors.shape[0]} vectors for "
                f"{n_texts} texts"
            )
        if vectors.shape[1] == 0:
            raise ValueError(
                f"embedder returned empty vectors (dim 0) for {n_texts} texts"
            )

    def _validate_query_embedding(self, embedded: Any) -> np.ndarray:
        """Coerce an embedder's query output to a 1D float32 vector,
        rejecting None and wrong-rank outputs with an error that names
        the embedder (the raw values otherwise surface as opaque errors
        from the index kernel)."""
        if embedded is None:
            raise ValueError("embedder returned None instead of a query embedding")
        qvec = np.asarray(embedded, dtype=np.float32)
        if qvec.ndim != 1:
            raise ValueError(
                f"embedder returned a {qvec.ndim}D query embedding; "
                "expected a single 1D vector"
            )
        return qvec

    # ---- Write path ---------------------------------------------------

    @staticmethod
    def _normalize_ids(ids: list[str]) -> list[str]:
        """Return a fresh ``list[str]`` copy of ``ids`` with per-entry
        ``None`` replaced by a generated UUID (matches the reference
        InMemoryVectorStore and keeps None out of the JSON side-car,
        where it would round-trip as the string ``"null"``).

        Any other non-``str`` id raises ``TypeError``. This is a

View on GitHub (pinned to ccab9f325e)

Solutions

1. Fix the embedder's embed_query — it must return a numeric vector for the query string.
2. Check the embedder wrapper for code paths that return None (unloaded model, API failure).
3. Catch the ValueError in search code to report the broken embedder.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at turbovec-python/python/turbovec/langchain.py:213 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of RyanCodrai/turbovec@ccab9f325e (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ce4619fd63d7948b. Report an issue: GitHub.