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@tomaarsen
Created July 9, 2025 12:59
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Boilerplate to train a Sparse Embedding model (SPLADE architecture) using Sentence Transformers
import logging
from datasets import load_dataset
from sentence_transformers import (
SparseEncoder,
SparseEncoderModelCardData,
SparseEncoderTrainer,
SparseEncoderTrainingArguments,
)
from sentence_transformers.sparse_encoder.evaluation import SparseNanoBEIREvaluator
from sentence_transformers.sparse_encoder.losses import SparseMultipleNegativesRankingLoss, SpladeLoss
from sentence_transformers.training_args import BatchSamplers
logging.basicConfig(format="%(asctime)s - %(message)s", datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", level=logging.INFO)
# 1. Load a model to finetune with 2. (Optional) model card data
model = SparseEncoder(
"distilbert/distilbert-base-uncased",
model_card_data=SparseEncoderModelCardData(
language="en",
license="apache-2.0",
model_name="DistilBERT base trained on Natural-Questions tuples",
)
)
# 3. Load a dataset to finetune on
full_dataset = load_dataset("sentence-transformers/natural-questions", split="train").select(range(100_000))
dataset_dict = full_dataset.train_test_split(test_size=1_000, seed=12)
train_dataset = dataset_dict["train"]
eval_dataset = dataset_dict["test"]
# 4. Define a loss function
loss = SpladeLoss(
model=model,
loss=SparseMultipleNegativesRankingLoss(model=model),
query_regularizer_weight=5e-5,
document_regularizer_weight=3e-5,
)
# 5. (Optional) Specify training arguments
run_name = "splade-distilbert-base-uncased-nq"
args = SparseEncoderTrainingArguments(
# Required parameter:
output_dir=f"models/{run_name}",
# Optional training parameters:
num_train_epochs=1,
per_device_train_batch_size=16,
per_device_eval_batch_size=16,
learning_rate=2e-5,
warmup_ratio=0.1,
fp16=True, # Set to False if you get an error that your GPU can't run on FP16
bf16=False, # Set to True if you have a GPU that supports BF16
batch_sampler=BatchSamplers.NO_DUPLICATES, # MultipleNegativesRankingLoss benefits from no duplicate samples in a batch
# Optional tracking/debugging parameters:
eval_strategy="steps",
eval_steps=1000,
save_strategy="steps",
save_steps=1000,
save_total_limit=2,
logging_steps=200,
run_name=run_name, # Will be used in W&B if `wandb` is installed
)
# 6. (Optional) Create an evaluator & evaluate the base model
dev_evaluator = SparseNanoBEIREvaluator(dataset_names=["msmarco", "nfcorpus", "nq"], batch_size=16)
# 7. Create a trainer & train
trainer = SparseEncoderTrainer(
model=model,
args=args,
train_dataset=train_dataset,
eval_dataset=eval_dataset,
loss=loss,
evaluator=dev_evaluator,
)
trainer.train()
# 8. Evaluate the model performance again after training
dev_evaluator(model)
# 9. Save the trained model
model.save_pretrained(f"models/{run_name}/final")
# 10. (Optional) Push it to the Hugging Face Hub
model.push_to_hub(run_name)
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