What causes "Did not receive a SortByField." in redis/redis-py?

Use the setter: query.sort_by('price', asc=True).

redis/redis-py · error · AttributeError

Did not receive a SortByField.

Error message

Did not receive a SortByField.

What it means

Raised by Query._get_args_tags when the internal _sortby attribute is set but is not a SortbyField instance. The public sort_by() method always constructs a SortbyField, so this error signals that _sortby was assigned directly with a foreign object. It prevents emitting a malformed SORTBY clause.

Source

Thrown at redis/commands/search/query.py:237

        if self._with_scores:
            args.append("WITHSCORES")
        if self._ids:
            args.append("INKEYS")
            args.append(len(self._ids))
            args += self._ids
        if self._slop >= 0:
            args += ["SLOP", self._slop]
        if self._timeout is not None:
            args += ["TIMEOUT", self._timeout]
        if self._in_order:
            args.append("INORDER")
        if self._return_fields:
            args.append("RETURN")
            args.append(len(self._return_fields))
            args += self._return_fields
        if self._sortby:
            if not isinstance(self._sortby, SortbyField):
                raise AttributeError("Did not receive a SortByField.")
            args.append("SORTBY")
            args += self._sortby.args
        if self._language:
            args += ["LANGUAGE", self._language]
        if self._expander:
            args += ["EXPANDER", self._expander]
        if self._dialect:
            args += ["DIALECT", self._dialect]

        return args

    def paging(self, offset: int, num: int) -> "Query":
        """
        Set the paging for the query (defaults to 0..10).

        - **offset**: Paging offset for the results. Defaults to 0
        - **num**: How many results do we want
        """

View on GitHub (pinned to da03cdc7e8)

Solutions

Use the setter: query.sort_by('price', asc=True).
If constructing a SortbyField manually, assign it via sort_by or ensure the object is redis.commands.search.query.SortbyField.
Do not write to query._sortby directly.

Example fix

// before
query._sortby = 'price'
// after
query.sort_by('price', asc=True)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

from redis.commands.search.query import SortbyField

def set_sort(query, field, asc=True):
    sb = SortbyField(field, asc) if not isinstance(field, SortbyField) else field
    query._sortby = sb  # or prefer query.sort_by(field, asc)

Type guard

from redis.commands.search.query import SortbyField

def is_sortbyfield(val) -> bool:
    return val is None or isinstance(val, SortbyField)

Try / catch

try:
    query.get_args()
except AttributeError:
    query.sort_by('price', asc=True)

Prevention

Always set sort order via query.sort_by(), never by attribute assignment.
If copying query state, reconstruct SortbyField instances rather than aliasing.
Avoid exposing _sortby in wrappers.

When it happens

Trigger: Directly assigning query._sortby = 'price' or query._sortby = ('price', 'ASC') instead of calling sort_by(); or a third-party wrapper overwriting the attribute.

Common situations: Attempting to set sort via attribute assignment; deserializing a query config into attributes; copying fields between Query objects without type checks.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of redis/redis-py@da03cdc7e8 (2026-08-04). Data as JSON: /data/errors/033b57a2a8b6a380.json. Report an issue: GitHub.