feat: add native support for UNF and NOINDEX field attributes (#374)

Implements native support for Redis field attributes UNF (un-normalized form) and NOINDEX
to provide more control over field indexing and sorting behavior.

BREAKING CHANGE: None - all changes are backward compatible with default values

- Add `no_index` attribute to BaseFieldAttributes for all field types
- Add `unf` attribute to TextFieldAttributes and NumericFieldAttributes
- Both attributes default to False maintaining backward compatibility

Field Support:
- TextField: Supports both no_index and unf attributes
- NumericField: Supports both no_index and unf attributes
- TagField: Supports no_index attribute
- GeoField: Supports no_index attribute

Technical Implementation:
- NOINDEX implemented via redis-py's native no_index parameter
- UNF added via args_suffix manipulation with proper ordering
- Both attributes require sortable=True to take effect
- Special parsing logic handles Redis auto-adding UNF to sortable numeric fields

Fixes #374

Author: bsbodden

redisvl/redis/connection.py

@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ def parse_vector_attrs(attrs):
 
         return normalized
 
-    def parse_attrs(attrs):
+    def parse_attrs(attrs, field_type=None):
         # 'SORTABLE', 'NOSTEM' don't have corresponding values.
         # Their presence indicates boolean True
         # TODO 'WITHSUFFIXTRIE' is another boolean attr, but is not returned by ft.info
@@ -150,17 +150,23 @@ def parse_attrs(attrs):
             "SORTABLE": "sortable",
             "INDEXMISSING": "index_missing",
             "INDEXEMPTY": "index_empty",
+            "NOINDEX": "no_index",
         }
 
+        # Special handling for UNF:
+        # - For NUMERIC fields, Redis always adds UNF when SORTABLE is present
+        # - For TEXT fields, UNF is only present when explicitly set
+        # We only set unf=True for TEXT fields to avoid false positives
+        if "UNF" in attrs:
+            if field_type == "TEXT":
+                parsed_attrs["unf"] = True
+            attrs.remove("UNF")
+
         for redis_attr, python_attr in boolean_attrs.items():
             if redis_attr in attrs:
                 parsed_attrs[python_attr] = True
                 attrs.remove(redis_attr)
 
-        # Handle UNF which is associated with SORTABLE
-        if "UNF" in attrs:
-            attrs.remove("UNF")  # UNF present on sortable numeric fields only
-
         try:
             # Parse remaining attributes as key-value pairs starting from index 6
             parsed_attrs.update(
@@ -182,7 +188,7 @@ def parse_attrs(attrs):
         if field_attrs[5] == "VECTOR":
             field["attrs"] = parse_vector_attrs(field_attrs)
         else:
-            field["attrs"] = parse_attrs(field_attrs)
+            field["attrs"] = parse_attrs(field_attrs, field_type=field_attrs[5])
         # append field
         schema_fields.append(field)
 

redisvl/schema/fields.py

@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ class BaseFieldAttributes(BaseModel):
     """Enable faster result sorting on the field at runtime"""
     index_missing: bool = Field(default=False)
     """Allow indexing and searching for missing values (documents without the field)"""
+    no_index: bool = Field(default=False)
+    """Store field without indexing it (requires sortable=True or field is ignored)"""
 
 
 class TextFieldAttributes(BaseFieldAttributes):
@@ -78,6 +80,8 @@ class TextFieldAttributes(BaseFieldAttributes):
     """Used to perform phonetic matching during search"""
     index_empty: bool = Field(default=False)
     """Allow indexing and searching for empty strings"""
+    unf: bool = Field(default=False)
+    """Un-normalized form - disable normalization on sortable fields (only applies when sortable=True)"""
 
 
 class TagFieldAttributes(BaseFieldAttributes):
@@ -96,7 +100,8 @@ class TagFieldAttributes(BaseFieldAttributes):
 class NumericFieldAttributes(BaseFieldAttributes):
     """Numeric field attributes"""
 
-    pass
+    unf: bool = Field(default=False)
+    """Un-normalized form - disable normalization on sortable fields (only applies when sortable=True)"""
 
 
 class GeoFieldAttributes(BaseFieldAttributes):
@@ -223,7 +228,24 @@ def as_redis_field(self) -> RedisField:
         if self.attrs.index_empty:  # type: ignore
             kwargs["index_empty"] = True
 
-        return RedisTextField(name, **kwargs)
+        # Add NOINDEX if enabled
+        if self.attrs.no_index:  # type: ignore
+            kwargs["no_index"] = True
+
+        field = RedisTextField(name, **kwargs)
+
+        # Add UNF support (only when sortable)
+        # UNF must come before NOINDEX in the args_suffix
+        if self.attrs.unf and self.attrs.sortable:  # type: ignore
+            if "NOINDEX" in field.args_suffix:
+                # Insert UNF before NOINDEX
+                noindex_idx = field.args_suffix.index("NOINDEX")
+                field.args_suffix.insert(noindex_idx, "UNF")
+            else:
+                # No NOINDEX, append normally
+                field.args_suffix.append("UNF")
+
+        return field
 
 
 class TagField(BaseField):
@@ -253,6 +275,10 @@ def as_redis_field(self) -> RedisField:
         if self.attrs.index_empty:  # type: ignore
             kwargs["index_empty"] = True
 
+        # Add NOINDEX if enabled
+        if self.attrs.no_index:  # type: ignore
+            kwargs["no_index"] = True
+
         return RedisTagField(name, **kwargs)
 
 
@@ -277,7 +303,24 @@ def as_redis_field(self) -> RedisField:
         if self.attrs.index_missing:  # type: ignore
             kwargs["index_missing"] = True
 
-        return RedisNumericField(name, **kwargs)
+        # Add NOINDEX if enabled
+        if self.attrs.no_index:  # type: ignore
+            kwargs["no_index"] = True
+
+        field = RedisNumericField(name, **kwargs)
+
+        # Add UNF support (only when sortable)
+        # UNF must come before NOINDEX in the args_suffix
+        if self.attrs.unf and self.attrs.sortable:  # type: ignore
+            if "NOINDEX" in field.args_suffix:
+                # Insert UNF before NOINDEX
+                noindex_idx = field.args_suffix.index("NOINDEX")
+                field.args_suffix.insert(noindex_idx, "UNF")
+            else:
+                # No NOINDEX, append normally
+                field.args_suffix.append("UNF")
+
+        return field
 
 
 class GeoField(BaseField):
@@ -301,6 +344,10 @@ def as_redis_field(self) -> RedisField:
         if self.attrs.index_missing:  # type: ignore
             kwargs["index_missing"] = True
 
+        # Add NOINDEX if enabled
+        if self.attrs.no_index:  # type: ignore
+            kwargs["no_index"] = True
+
         return RedisGeoField(name, **kwargs)