{"record":{"id":"936b4d6e45542d4a","repo":"chroma-core/chroma","slug":"the-sentence-transformers-python-package-is-not-in","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"The sentence_transformers python package is not installed. Please install it with `pip install sentence_transformers`","messagePattern":"The sentence_transformers python package is not installed\\. Please install it with `pip install sentence_transformers`","errorType":"exception","errorClass":"ValueError","httpStatus":null,"severity":"error","filePath":"chromadb/utils/embedding_functions/huggingface_sparse_embedding_function.py","lineNumber":45,"sourceCode":"        self,\n        model_name: str,\n        device: str,\n        task: Optional[TaskType] = \"document\",\n        query_config: Optional[HuggingFaceSparseEmbeddingFunctionQueryConfig] = None,\n        **kwargs: Any,\n    ):\n        \"\"\"Initialize SparseEncoderEmbeddingFunction.\n\n        Args:\n            model_name (str, optional): Identifier of the Huggingface SparseEncoder model\n            Some common models: prithivida/Splade_PP_en_v1, naver/splade-cocondenser-ensembledistil, naver/splade-v3\n            device (str, optional): Device used for computation\n            **kwargs: Additional arguments to pass to the Splade model.\n        \"\"\"\n        try:\n            from sentence_transformers import SparseEncoder\n        except ImportError:\n            raise ValueError(\n                \"The sentence_transformers python package is not installed. Please install it with `pip install sentence_transformers`\"\n            )\n\n        self.model_name = model_name\n        self.device = device\n        self.task = task\n        self.query_config = query_config\n        validate_embedding_function_kwargs_are_safe(kwargs)\n        for key, value in kwargs.items():\n            if not isinstance(value, (str, int, float, bool, list, dict, tuple)):\n                raise ValueError(f\"Keyword argument {key} is not a primitive type\")\n        self.kwargs = kwargs\n\n        if model_name not in self.models:\n            self.models[model_name] = SparseEncoder(\n                model_name_or_path=model_name, device=device, **kwargs\n            )\n        self._model = self.models[model_name]","sourceCodeStart":27,"sourceCodeEnd":63,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/chroma-core/chroma/blob/aecdd12c8a891610db8653630b066b32ceb678b5/chromadb/utils/embedding_functions/huggingface_sparse_embedding_function.py#L27-L63","documentation":"Error \"The sentence_transformers python package is not installed. Please install it with `pip install sentence_transformers`\" thrown in chroma-core/chroma.","triggerScenarios":"Thrown at chromadb/utils/embedding_functions/huggingface_sparse_embedding_function.py:45 when the library encounters an invalid state.","commonSituations":"See trigger scenarios.","solutions":[],"exampleFix":null,"handlingStrategy":null,"validationCode":null,"typeGuard":null,"tryCatchPattern":null,"preventionTips":[],"tags":[],"backgroundTag":null,"analyzedSha":"aecdd12c8a891610db8653630b066b32ceb678b5","analyzedAt":"2026-08-16T21:53:27.228Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-08-16T23:17:17.608Z"}