redis/redis-rb · error · Redis::CommandError

Vector fields cannot be sortable

Error message

Vector fields cannot be sortable

What it means

The Query Engine cannot sort on VECTOR fields, so the client rejects the combination up front: VectorField raises Redis::CommandError (not ArgumentError) for sortable: true at field construction, before any server round trip (lib/redis/commands/modules/search/field.rb:253). The error class matters when rescuing: generic Redis error handling catches it, argument-validation handling does not.

Source

Thrown at lib/redis/commands/modules/search/field.rb:253

        #     "embedding", "HNSW", { type: "FLOAT32", dim: 4, distance_metric: "L2" }
        #   )
        #
        # @param [String, Symbol] name the document attribute the field indexes
        # @param [String, Symbol] algorithm the indexing method, one of +FLAT+, +HNSW+, +SVS-VAMANA+
        # @param [Hash] attributes the vector attributes (e.g. +type+, +dim+, +distance_metric+)
        # @option options [String] :as an alias for the field, rendered as +AS <alias>+
        # @raise [ArgumentError] if +algorithm+ is not a supported indexing method
        # @raise [Redis::CommandError] if +:sortable+ or +:no_index+ is given
        def initialize(name, algorithm, attributes = {}, **options)
          # Validate algorithm
          unless ['FLAT', 'HNSW', 'SVS-VAMANA'].include?(algorithm.to_s.upcase)
            raise ArgumentError,
                  "Realtime vector indexing supporting 3 Indexing Methods: 'FLAT', 'HNSW', and 'SVS-VAMANA'"
          end

          # Validate that sortable and no_index are not used with vector fields
          if options[:sortable]
            raise Redis::CommandError, "Vector fields cannot be sortable"
          end
          if options[:no_index]
            raise Redis::CommandError, "Vector fields cannot have no_index option"
          end

          super(name, :vector, **options)
          @algorithm = algorithm.to_s.upcase
          @attributes = attributes.transform_keys { |k| k.to_s.upcase }.transform_values { |v| v.to_s.upcase }
        end

        # Set or override a single vector attribute.
        #
        # @param [String, Symbol] key the attribute name (upcased internally)
        # @param [Object] value the attribute value
        # @return [Object] the stored value
        def add_attribute(key, value)
          # Normalize like #initialize does for the kwargs form, so block-DSL attributes
          # (vector_field(...) { type "float32" }) reach FT.CREATE with the expected casing.

View on GitHub (pinned to 2ba9010b91)

Solutions

1. Remove sortable from the vector field definition
2. Sort on a companion field (numeric timestamp, text title) instead of the embedding
3. When mass-applying options, exclude vector fields: strip :sortable unless the field is a VectorField

Example fix

// before
VectorField.new("emb", "HNSW", attrs, sortable: true)
// after
VectorField.new("emb", "HNSW", attrs)
# sort on a separate numeric_field instead

def build_field(name, type, opts)
  opts = opts.except(:sortable, :no_index) if type == :vector
  Field.build(name, type, opts)
end

field.is_a?(Redis::Commands::Search::Field::VectorField) ? opts.except(:sortable) : opts

begin
  VectorField.new(name, algo, attrs, **opts)
rescue Redis::CommandError => e
  raise SchemaConfigError, "vector field rejected: #{e.message}"
end

When it happens

Trigger: VectorField.new("emb", "FLAT", attrs, sortable: true); a schema builder that merges default options (sortable: true for sort UIs) into every field; converting a TEXT field to VECTOR while keeping its old options.

Common situations: Shared option hashes applied to all fields in a loop; copy-pasted field definitions; sorting-feature defaults colliding with newly added embedding fields.

Related errors

• Vector fields cannot have no_index option
• Realtime vector indexing supporting 3 Indexing Methods: 'FLA
• Invalid schema
• collect fields must be :all or a non-empty list
• Invalid phonetic matcher. Supported matchers are: #{valid_ma

AI-assisted analysis of redis/redis-rb@2ba9010b91 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6d448d0fb3a93fa2. Report an issue: GitHub.