---
title: "vLLM"
id: integrations-vllm
description: "vLLM integration for Haystack"
slug: "/integrations-vllm"
---
## haystack_integrations.components.embedders.vllm.document_embedder
### VLLMDocumentEmbedder
A component for computing Document embeddings using models served with [vLLM](https://docs.vllm.ai/).
The embedding of each Document is stored in the `embedding` field of the Document.
It expects a vLLM server to be running and accessible at the `api_base_url` parameter and uses the
OpenAI-compatible Embeddings API exposed by vLLM.
### Starting the vLLM server
Before using this component, start a vLLM server with an embedding model:
```bash
vllm serve google/embeddinggemma-300m
```
For details on server options, see the [vLLM CLI docs](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/cli/serve/).
### Usage example
```python
from haystack import Document
from haystack_integrations.components.embedders.vllm import VLLMDocumentEmbedder
doc = Document(content="I love pizza!")
document_embedder = VLLMDocumentEmbedder(model="google/embeddinggemma-300m")
result = document_embedder.run([doc])
print(result["documents"][0].embedding)
```
### Usage example with vLLM-specific parameters
Pass vLLM-specific parameters via the `extra_parameters` dictionary. They are forwarded as `extra_body`
to the OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
```python
document_embedder = VLLMDocumentEmbedder(
model="google/embeddinggemma-300m",
extra_parameters={"truncate_prompt_tokens": 256, "truncation_side": "right"},
)
```
#### __init__
```python
__init__(
*,
model: str,
api_key: Secret | None = Secret.from_env_var("VLLM_API_KEY", strict=False),
api_base_url: str = "http://localhost:8000/v1",
prefix: str = "",
suffix: str = "",
dimensions: int | None = None,
batch_size: int = 32,
progress_bar: bool = True,
meta_fields_to_embed: list[str] | None = None,
embedding_separator: str = "\n",
timeout: float | None = None,
max_retries: int | None = None,
http_client_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
raise_on_failure: bool = False,
extra_parameters: dict[str, Any] | None = None
) -> None
```
Creates an instance of VLLMDocumentEmbedder.
**Parameters:**
- **model** (str) – The name of the model served by vLLM. Check
[vLLM documentation](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/models/pooling_models) for more information.
- **api_key** (Secret | None) – The vLLM API key. Defaults to the `VLLM_API_KEY` environment variable.
Only required if the vLLM server was started with `--api-key`.
- **api_base_url** (str) – The base URL of the vLLM server.
- **prefix** (str) – A string to add at the beginning of each text.
- **suffix** (str) – A string to add at the end of each text.
- **dimensions** (int | None) – The number of dimensions of the resulting embedding. Only models trained with
Matryoshka Representation Learning support this parameter. See
[vLLM documentation](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/models/pooling_models/embed/#matryoshka-embeddings)
for more information.
- **batch_size** (int) – Number of documents to encode at once.
- **progress_bar** (bool) – Whether to show a progress bar.
- **meta_fields_to_embed** (list\[str\] | None) – List of meta fields to embed along with the document text.
- **embedding_separator** (str) – Separator used to concatenate the meta fields to the document text.
- **timeout** (float | None) – Timeout in seconds for vLLM client calls. If not set, the OpenAI client default applies.
- **max_retries** (int | None) – Maximum number of retries for failed requests. If not set, the OpenAI client
default applies.
- **http_client_kwargs** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – A dictionary of keyword arguments to configure a custom `httpx.Client` or
`httpx.AsyncClient`. For more information, see the
[HTTPX documentation](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#client).
- **raise_on_failure** (bool) – Whether to raise an exception if the embedding request fails. If `False`,
the component logs the error and continues processing the remaining documents.
- **extra_parameters** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – Additional parameters forwarded as `extra_body` to the vLLM embeddings
endpoint. Use this to pass parameters not part of the standard OpenAI Embeddings API, such as
`truncate_prompt_tokens`, `truncation_side`, etc. See the
[vLLM Embeddings API docs](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/models/pooling_models/embed/#openai-compatible-embeddings-api).
#### warm_up
```python
warm_up() -> None
```
Create the OpenAI clients.
#### run
```python
run(documents: list[Document]) -> dict[str, list[Document] | dict[str, Any]]
```
Embed a list of Documents.
**Parameters:**
- **documents** (list\[Document\]) – Documents to embed.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, list\[Document\] | dict\[str, Any\]\] – A dictionary with:
- `documents`: The input documents with their `embedding` field populated.
- `meta`: Information about the usage of the model.
#### run_async
```python
run_async(
documents: list[Document],
) -> dict[str, list[Document] | dict[str, Any]]
```
Asynchronously embed a list of Documents.
**Parameters:**
- **documents** (list\[Document\]) – Documents to embed.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, list\[Document\] | dict\[str, Any\]\] – A dictionary with:
- `documents`: The input documents with their `embedding` field populated.
- `meta`: Information about the usage of the model.
## haystack_integrations.components.embedders.vllm.text_embedder
### VLLMTextEmbedder
A component for embedding strings using models served with [vLLM](https://docs.vllm.ai/).
It expects a vLLM server to be running and accessible at the `api_base_url` parameter and uses the
OpenAI-compatible Embeddings API exposed by vLLM.
### Starting the vLLM server
Before using this component, start a vLLM server with an embedding model:
```bash
vllm serve google/embeddinggemma-300m
```
For details on server options, see the [vLLM CLI docs](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/cli/serve/).
### Usage example
```python
from haystack_integrations.components.embedders.vllm import VLLMTextEmbedder
text_embedder = VLLMTextEmbedder(model="google/embeddinggemma-300m")
print(text_embedder.run("I love pizza!"))
```
### Usage example with vLLM-specific parameters
Pass vLLM-specific parameters via the `extra_parameters` dictionary. They are forwarded as `extra_body`
to the OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
```python
text_embedder = VLLMTextEmbedder(
model="google/embeddinggemma-300m",
extra_parameters={"truncate_prompt_tokens": 256, "truncation_side": "right"},
)
```
#### __init__
```python
__init__(
*,
model: str,
api_key: Secret | None = Secret.from_env_var("VLLM_API_KEY", strict=False),
api_base_url: str = "http://localhost:8000/v1",
prefix: str = "",
suffix: str = "",
dimensions: int | None = None,
timeout: float | None = None,
max_retries: int | None = None,
http_client_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
extra_parameters: dict[str, Any] | None = None
) -> None
```
Creates an instance of VLLMTextEmbedder.
**Parameters:**
- **model** (str) – The name of the model served by vLLM (e.g., "intfloat/e5-mistral-7b-instruct").
- **api_key** (Secret | None) – The vLLM API key. Defaults to the `VLLM_API_KEY` environment variable.
Only required if the vLLM server was started with `--api-key`.
- **api_base_url** (str) – The base URL of the vLLM server.
- **prefix** (str) – A string to add at the beginning of each text to embed.
- **suffix** (str) – A string to add at the end of each text to embed.
- **dimensions** (int | None) – The number of dimensions of the resulting embedding. Only models trained with
Matryoshka Representation Learning support this parameter. See
[vLLM documentation](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/models/pooling_models/embed/#matryoshka-embeddings)
for more information.
- **timeout** (float | None) – Timeout in seconds for vLLM client calls. If not set, the OpenAI client default applies.
- **max_retries** (int | None) – Maximum number of retries for failed requests. If not set, the OpenAI client
default applies.
- **http_client_kwargs** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – A dictionary of keyword arguments to configure a custom `httpx.Client` or
`httpx.AsyncClient`. For more information, see the
[HTTPX documentation](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#client).
- **extra_parameters** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – Additional parameters forwarded as `extra_body` to the vLLM embeddings
endpoint. Use this to pass parameters not part of the standard OpenAI Embeddings API, such as
`truncate_prompt_tokens`, `truncation_side`, `additional_data`, `use_activation`, etc. See the
[vLLM Embeddings API docs](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/models/pooling_models/embed/#openai-compatible-embeddings-api).
#### warm_up
```python
warm_up() -> None
```
Create the OpenAI clients.
#### run
```python
run(text: str) -> dict[str, list[float] | dict[str, Any]]
```
Embed a single string.
**Parameters:**
- **text** (str) – Text to embed.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, list\[float\] | dict\[str, Any\]\] – A dictionary with:
- `embedding`: The embedding of the input text.
- `meta`: Information about the usage of the model.
#### run_async
```python
run_async(text: str) -> dict[str, list[float] | dict[str, Any]]
```
Asynchronously embed a single string.
**Parameters:**
- **text** (str) – Text to embed.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, list\[float\] | dict\[str, Any\]\] – A dictionary with:
- `embedding`: The embedding of the input text.
- `meta`: Information about the usage of the model.
## haystack_integrations.components.generators.vllm.chat.chat_generator
### VLLMChatGenerator
A component for generating chat completions using models served with [vLLM](https://docs.vllm.ai/).
It expects a vLLM server to be running and accessible at the `api_base_url` parameter.
### Starting the vLLM server
Before using this component, start a vLLM server:
```bash
vllm serve Qwen/Qwen3-4B-Instruct-2507
```
For reasoning models, start the server with the appropriate reasoning parser:
```bash
vllm serve Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B --reasoning-parser qwen3
```
For tool calling, the server must be started with `--enable-auto-tool-choice` and `--tool-call-parser`:
```bash
vllm serve Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B --enable-auto-tool-choice --tool-call-parser hermes
```
The available tool call parsers depend on the model. See the
[vLLM tool calling docs](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/features/tool_calling/) for the full list.
For details on server options, see the [vLLM CLI docs](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/cli/serve/).
### Usage example
```python
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.vllm import VLLMChatGenerator
generator = VLLMChatGenerator(
model="Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B",
generation_kwargs={"max_tokens": 512, "temperature": 0.7},
)
messages = [ChatMessage.from_user("What's Natural Language Processing?")]
response = generator.run(messages=messages)
print(response["replies"][0].text)
```
### Usage example with vLLM-specific parameters
Pass the vLLM-specific parameters inside the `generation_kwargs`["extra_body"] dictionary.
```python
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.vllm import VLLMChatGenerator
generator = VLLMChatGenerator(
model="Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B",
generation_kwargs={
"max_tokens": 512,
"extra_body": {
"top_k": 50,
"min_tokens": 10,
"repetition_penalty": 1.1,
},
},
)
```
### Usage example with tool calling
To use tool calling, start the vLLM server with `--enable-auto-tool-choice` and `--tool-call-parser`.
```python
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage
from haystack.tools import tool
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.vllm import VLLMChatGenerator
@tool
def weather(city: str) -> str:
"""Get the weather in a given city."""
return f"The weather in {city} is sunny"
generator = VLLMChatGenerator(model="Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B", tools=[weather])
messages = [ChatMessage.from_user("What is the weather in Paris?")]
response = generator.run(messages=messages)
print(response["replies"][0].tool_calls)
```
### Usage example with reasoning models
To use reasoning models, start the vLLM server with `--reasoning-parser`.
```python
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.vllm import VLLMChatGenerator
generator = VLLMChatGenerator(model="Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B")
messages = [ChatMessage.from_user("Solve step by step: what is 15 * 37?")]
response = generator.run(messages=messages)
reply = response["replies"][0]
if reply.reasoning:
print("Reasoning:", reply.reasoning.reasoning_text)
print("Answer:", reply.text)
```
#### __init__
```python
__init__(
*,
model: str,
api_key: Secret | None = Secret.from_env_var("VLLM_API_KEY", strict=False),
streaming_callback: StreamingCallbackT | None = None,
api_base_url: str = "http://localhost:8000/v1",
generation_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
timeout: float | None = None,
max_retries: int | None = None,
tools: ToolsType | None = None,
http_client_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None
) -> None
```
Creates an instance of VLLMChatGenerator.
**Parameters:**
- **model** (str) – The name of the model served by vLLM (e.g., "Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B").
- **api_key** (Secret | None) – The vLLM API key. Defaults to the `VLLM_API_KEY` environment variable.
Only required if the vLLM server was started with `--api-key`.
- **streaming_callback** (StreamingCallbackT | None) – A callback function that is called when a new token is received from the stream.
The callback function accepts
[StreamingChunk](https://docs.haystack.deepset.ai/docs/data-classes#streamingchunk)
as an argument.
- **api_base_url** (str) – The base URL of the vLLM server.
- **generation_kwargs** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – Additional parameters for text generation. These parameters are sent directly to
the vLLM OpenAI-compatible endpoint. See
[vLLM documentation](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/serving/openai_compatible_server/)
for more details.
Some of the supported parameters:
- `max_tokens`: Maximum number of tokens to generate.
- `temperature`: Sampling temperature.
- `top_p`: Nucleus sampling parameter.
- `n`: Number of completions to generate for each prompt.
- `stop`: One or more sequences after which the model should stop generating tokens.
- `response_format`: A JSON schema or a Pydantic model that enforces the structure of the response.
- `extra_body`: A dictionary of vLLM-specific parameters not part of the standard OpenAI API
(e.g., `top_k`, `min_tokens`, `repetition_penalty`).
- **timeout** (float | None) – Timeout for vLLM client calls. If not set, it defaults to the default set by the OpenAI client.
- **max_retries** (int | None) – Maximum number of retries to attempt for failed requests. If not set, it defaults to the default
set by the OpenAI client.
- **tools** (ToolsType | None) – A list of Tool and/or Toolset objects, or a single Toolset for which the model can prepare calls.
Each tool should have a unique name. Not all models support tools.
- **http_client_kwargs** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – A dictionary of keyword arguments to configure a custom `httpx.Client` or `httpx.AsyncClient`.
For more information, see the [HTTPX documentation](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#client).
#### warm_up
```python
warm_up() -> None
```
Create the OpenAI clients and warm up tools.
#### to_dict
```python
to_dict() -> dict[str, Any]
```
Serialize this component to a dictionary.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, Any\] – The serialized component as a dictionary.
#### from_dict
```python
from_dict(data: dict[str, Any]) -> VLLMChatGenerator
```
Deserialize this component from a dictionary.
**Parameters:**
- **data** (dict\[str, Any\]) – The dictionary representation of this component.
**Returns:**
- VLLMChatGenerator – The deserialized component instance.
#### run
```python
run(
messages: list[ChatMessage] | str,
streaming_callback: StreamingCallbackT | None = None,
generation_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
*,
tools: ToolsType | None = None
) -> dict[str, list[ChatMessage]]
```
Run the VLLM chat generator on the given input data.
**Parameters:**
- **messages** (list\[ChatMessage\] | str) – A list of ChatMessage instances representing the input messages.
If a string is provided, it is converted to a list containing a ChatMessage with user role.
- **streaming_callback** (StreamingCallbackT | None) – A callback function that is called when a new token is received from the stream.
- **generation_kwargs** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – Additional keyword arguments for text generation. These parameters will
override the parameters passed during component initialization.
For details on vLLM API parameters, see
[vLLM documentation](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/serving/openai_compatible_server/).
- **tools** (ToolsType | None) – A list of Tool and/or Toolset objects, or a single Toolset for which the model can prepare calls.
If set, it will override the `tools` parameter provided during initialization.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, list\[ChatMessage\]\] – A dictionary with the following key:
- `replies`: A list containing the generated responses as ChatMessage instances.
#### run_async
```python
run_async(
messages: list[ChatMessage] | str,
streaming_callback: StreamingCallbackT | None = None,
generation_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
*,
tools: ToolsType | None = None
) -> dict[str, list[ChatMessage]]
```
Run the VLLM chat generator on the given input data asynchronously.
**Parameters:**
- **messages** (list\[ChatMessage\] | str) – A list of ChatMessage instances representing the input messages.
If a string is provided, it is converted to a list containing a ChatMessage with user role.
- **streaming_callback** (StreamingCallbackT | None) – A callback function that is called when a new token is received from the stream.
Must be a coroutine.
- **generation_kwargs** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – Additional keyword arguments for text generation. These parameters will
override the parameters passed during component initialization.
For details on vLLM API parameters, see
[vLLM documentation](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/serving/openai_compatible_server/).
- **tools** (ToolsType | None) – A list of Tool and/or Toolset objects, or a single Toolset for which the model can prepare calls.
If set, it will override the `tools` parameter provided during initialization.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, list\[ChatMessage\]\] – A dictionary with the following key:
- `replies`: A list containing the generated responses as ChatMessage instances.
## haystack_integrations.components.rankers.vllm.ranker
### VLLMRanker
Ranks Documents based on their similarity to a query using models served with [vLLM](https://docs.vllm.ai/).
It expects a vLLM server to be running and accessible at the `api_base_url` parameter and uses the
`/rerank` endpoint exposed by vLLM.
### Starting the vLLM server
Before using this component, start a vLLM server with a reranker model:
```bash
vllm serve BAAI/bge-reranker-base
```
For details on server options, see the [vLLM CLI docs](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/cli/serve/).
### Usage example
```python
from haystack import Document
from haystack_integrations.components.rankers.vllm import VLLMRanker
ranker = VLLMRanker(model="BAAI/bge-reranker-base")
docs = [
Document(content="The capital of Brazil is Brasilia."),
Document(content="The capital of France is Paris."),
]
result = ranker.run(query="What is the capital of France?", documents=docs)
print(result["documents"][0].content)
```
### Usage example with vLLM-specific parameters
Pass vLLM-specific parameters via the `extra_parameters` dictionary. They are merged into the
request body sent to the `/rerank` endpoint.
```python
ranker = VLLMRanker(
model="BAAI/bge-reranker-base",
extra_parameters={"truncate_prompt_tokens": 256},
)
```
#### __init__
```python
__init__(
*,
model: str,
api_key: Secret | None = Secret.from_env_var("VLLM_API_KEY", strict=False),
api_base_url: str = "http://localhost:8000/v1",
top_k: int | None = None,
score_threshold: float | None = None,
meta_fields_to_embed: list[str] | None = None,
meta_data_separator: str = "\n",
http_client_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
extra_parameters: dict[str, Any] | None = None
) -> None
```
Creates an instance of VLLMRanker.
**Parameters:**
- **model** (str) – The name of the reranker model served by vLLM. Check
[vLLM documentation](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/models/pooling_models/scoring/#supported-models) for
information on supported models.
- **api_key** (Secret | None) – The vLLM API key. Defaults to the `VLLM_API_KEY` environment variable.
Only required if the vLLM server was started with `--api-key`.
- **api_base_url** (str) – The base URL of the vLLM server.
- **top_k** (int | None) – The maximum number of Documents to return. If `None`, all documents are returned.
- **score_threshold** (float | None) – If set, documents with a relevance score below this value are dropped.
Applied after `top_k`, so the output may contain fewer than `top_k` documents.
- **meta_fields_to_embed** (list\[str\] | None) – List of meta fields that should be concatenated with the document
content before reranking.
- **meta_data_separator** (str) – Separator used to concatenate the meta fields to the document content.
- **http_client_kwargs** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – A dictionary of keyword arguments to configure a custom `httpx.Client` or
`httpx.AsyncClient`. For more information, see the
[HTTPX documentation](https://www.python-httpx.org/api/#client).
- **extra_parameters** (dict\[str, Any\] | None) – Additional parameters merged into the request body sent to the vLLM
`/rerank` endpoint. Use this to pass parameters not part of the standard rerank API, such as
`truncate_prompt_tokens`. See the
[vLLM docs](https://docs.vllm.ai/en/stable/models/pooling_models/scoring/#rerank-api) for more information.
**Raises:**
- ValueError – If `top_k` is not > 0.
#### warm_up
```python
warm_up() -> None
```
Create the httpx clients.
#### run
```python
run(
query: str,
documents: list[Document],
top_k: int | None = None,
score_threshold: float | None = None,
) -> dict[str, list[Document] | dict[str, Any]]
```
Returns a list of Documents ranked by their similarity to the given query.
**Parameters:**
- **query** (str) – Query string.
- **documents** (list\[Document\]) – List of Documents to rank.
- **top_k** (int | None) – The maximum number of Documents to return. Overrides the value set at initialization.
- **score_threshold** (float | None) – Minimum relevance score required for a document to be returned. Overrides
the value set at initialization.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, list\[Document\] | dict\[str, Any\]\] – A dictionary with:
- `documents`: Documents sorted from most to least relevant.
- `meta`: Information about the model and usage.
**Raises:**
- ValueError – If `top_k` is not > 0.
#### run_async
```python
run_async(
query: str,
documents: list[Document],
top_k: int | None = None,
score_threshold: float | None = None,
) -> dict[str, list[Document] | dict[str, Any]]
```
Asynchronously returns a list of Documents ranked by their similarity to the given query.
**Parameters:**
- **query** (str) – Query string.
- **documents** (list\[Document\]) – List of Documents to rank.
- **top_k** (int | None) – The maximum number of Documents to return. Overrides the value set at initialization.
- **score_threshold** (float | None) – Minimum relevance score required for a document to be returned. Overrides
the value set at initialization.
**Returns:**
- dict\[str, list\[Document\] | dict\[str, Any\]\] – A dictionary with:
- `documents`: Documents sorted from most to least relevant.
- `meta`: Information about the model and usage.
**Raises:**
- ValueError – If `top_k` is not > 0.