Installation¶

We recommend Python 3.9+, PyTorch 1.11.0+, and transformers v4.41.0+. There are 5 extra options to install Sentence Transformers:

Default: This allows for loading, saving, and inference (i.e., getting embeddings) of models.
ONNX: This allows for loading, saving, inference, optimizing, and quantizing of models using the ONNX backend.
OpenVINO: This allows for loading, saving, and inference of models using the OpenVINO backend.
Default and Training: Like Default, plus training.
Development: All of the above plus some dependencies for developing Sentence Transformers, see Editable Install.

Note that you can mix and match the various extras, e.g. pip install -U "sentence-transformers[train,onnx-gpu]".

Install with pip¶

Default

pip install -U sentence-transformers

ONNX

For GPU and CPU:

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[onnx-gpu]"

For CPU only:

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[onnx]"

OpenVINO

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[openvino]"

Default and Training

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[train]"

To use Weights and Biases to track your training logs, you should also install wandb (recommended):

pip install wandb

And to track your Carbon Emissions while training and have this information automatically included in your model cards, also install codecarbon (recommended):

pip install codecarbon

Development

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[dev]"

Install with Conda¶

Default

conda install -c conda-forge sentence-transformers

ONNX

For GPU and CPU:

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[onnx-gpu]"

For CPU only:

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[onnx]"

OpenVINO

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[openvino]"

Default and Training

conda install -c conda-forge sentence-transformers accelerate datasets

To use Weights and Biases to track your training logs, you should also install wandb (recommended):

pip install wandb

And to track your Carbon Emissions while training and have this information automatically included in your model cards, also install codecarbon (recommended):

pip install codecarbon

Development

conda install -c conda-forge sentence-transformers accelerate datasets pre-commit pytest ruff

Install from Source¶

You can install sentence-transformers directly from source to take advantage of the bleeding edge master branch rather than the latest stable release:

Default

pip install git+https://github.com/UKPLab/sentence-transformers.git

ONNX

For GPU and CPU:

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[onnx-gpu] @ git+https://github.com/UKPLab/sentence-transformers.git"

For CPU only:

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[onnx] @ git+https://github.com/UKPLab/sentence-transformers.git"

OpenVINO

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[openvino] @ git+https://github.com/UKPLab/sentence-transformers.git"

Default and Training

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[train] @ git+https://github.com/UKPLab/sentence-transformers.git"

To use Weights and Biases to track your training logs, you should also install wandb (recommended):

pip install wandb

And to track your carbon emissions while training and have this information automatically included in your model cards, also install codecarbon (recommended):

pip install codecarbon

Development

pip install -U "sentence-transformers[dev] @ git+https://github.com/UKPLab/sentence-transformers.git"

Editable Install¶

If you want to make changes to sentence-transformers, you will need an editable install. Clone the repository and install it with these commands:

git clone https://github.com/UKPLab/sentence-transformers
cd sentence-transformers
pip install -e ".[train,dev]"

These commands will link the new sentence-transformers folder and your Python library paths, such that this folder will be used when importing sentence-transformers.

Install PyTorch with CUDA support¶

To use a GPU/CUDA, you must install PyTorch with CUDA support. Follow PyTorch - Get Started for installation steps.