ankane/searchkick · error · ArgumentError

distance required

Error message

distance required

What it means

Error "distance required" thrown in ankane/searchkick.

Source

Thrown at lib/searchkick/query.rb:980

    end

    def set_knn(payload, knn, per_page, offset)
      if term != "*"
        raise ArgumentError, "Use Searchkick.multi_search for hybrid search"
      end

      field = knn[:field]
      field_options = searchkick_options.dig(:knn, field.to_sym) || searchkick_options.dig(:knn, field.to_s) || {}
      vector = knn[:vector]
      distance = knn[:distance] || field_options[:distance]
      exact = knn[:exact]
      exact = field_options[:distance].nil? || distance != field_options[:distance] if exact.nil?
      k = per_page + offset
      ef_search = knn[:ef_search]
      filter = payload.delete(:query)

      if distance.nil?
        raise ArgumentError, "distance required"
      elsif !exact && distance != field_options[:distance]
        raise ArgumentError, "distance must match searchkick options for approximate search"
      end

      if Searchkick.opensearch?
        if exact
          # https://opensearch.org/docs/latest/search-plugins/knn/knn-score-script/#spaces
          space_type =
            case distance
            when "cosine"
              "cosinesimil"
            when "euclidean"
              "l2"
            when "taxicab"
              "l1"
            when "inner_product"
              "innerproduct"
            when "chebyshev"

View on GitHub (pinned to 93e901a75b)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/searchkick/query.rb:980 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of ankane/searchkick@93e901a75b (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ae4d7d528001012c. Report an issue: GitHub.