[Frontend] Support multimodal inputs for late-interaction scoring (ColQwen3) + NewModel: nvidia/nemotron-colembed (#34574)

Signed-off-by: craftsangjae <craftsangjae@gmail.com>

docs/models/pooling_models.md

@@ -382,6 +382,7 @@ ColQwen3 is based on [ColPali](https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.01449), which extends
 |---|---|---|
 | `ColQwen3` | Qwen3-VL | `TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-4b`, `TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-8b` |
 | `OpsColQwen3Model` | Qwen3-VL | `OpenSearch-AI/Ops-Colqwen3-4B`, `OpenSearch-AI/Ops-Colqwen3-8B` |
+| `Qwen3VLNemotronEmbedModel` | Qwen3-VL | `nvidia/nemotron-colembed-vl-4b-v2`, `nvidia/nemotron-colembed-vl-8b-v2` |
 
 Start the server:
 
@@ -389,7 +390,9 @@ Start the server:
 vllm serve TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-4b --max-model-len 4096
 ```
 
-Then you can use the rerank endpoint:
+#### Text-only scoring and reranking
+
+Use the `/rerank` endpoint:
 
 ```shell
 curl -s http://localhost:8000/rerank -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
@@ -403,7 +406,7 @@ curl -s http://localhost:8000/rerank -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
 }'
 ```
 
-Or the score endpoint:
+Or the `/score` endpoint:
 
 ```shell
 curl -s http://localhost:8000/score -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
@@ -413,7 +416,57 @@ curl -s http://localhost:8000/score -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
 }'
 ```
 
-You can also get the raw token embeddings using the pooling endpoint with `token_embed` task:
+#### Multi-modal scoring and reranking (text query × image documents)
+
+The `/score` and `/rerank` endpoints also accept multi-modal inputs directly.
+Pass image documents using the `data_1`/`data_2` (for `/score`) or `documents` (for `/rerank`) fields
+with a `content` list containing `image_url` and `text` parts — the same format used by the
+OpenAI chat completion API:
+
+Score a text query against image documents:
+
+```shell
+curl -s http://localhost:8000/score -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
+    "model": "TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-4b",
+    "data_1": "Retrieve the city of Beijing",
+    "data_2": [
+        {
+            "content": [
+                {"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "data:image/png;base64,<BASE64>"}},
+                {"type": "text", "text": "Describe the image."}
+            ]
+        }
+    ]
+}'
+```
+
+Rerank image documents by a text query:
+
+```shell
+curl -s http://localhost:8000/rerank -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
+    "model": "TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-4b",
+    "query": "Retrieve the city of Beijing",
+    "documents": [
+        {
+            "content": [
+                {"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "data:image/png;base64,<BASE64_1>"}},
+                {"type": "text", "text": "Describe the image."}
+            ]
+        },
+        {
+            "content": [
+                {"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "data:image/png;base64,<BASE64_2>"}},
+                {"type": "text", "text": "Describe the image."}
+            ]
+        }
+    ],
+    "top_n": 2
+}'
+```
+
+#### Raw token embeddings
+
+You can also get the raw token embeddings using the `/pooling` endpoint with `token_embed` task:
 
 ```shell
 curl -s http://localhost:8000/pooling -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
@@ -423,7 +476,7 @@ curl -s http://localhost:8000/pooling -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
 }'
 ```
 
-For **image inputs**, use the chat-style `messages` field so that the vLLM multimodal processor handles them correctly:
+For **image inputs** via the pooling endpoint, use the chat-style `messages` field:
 
 ```shell
 curl -s http://localhost:8000/pooling -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
@@ -440,10 +493,10 @@ curl -s http://localhost:8000/pooling -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
 }'
 ```
 
-Examples can be found here:
+#### Examples
 
 - Multi-vector retrieval: [examples/pooling/token_embed/colqwen3_token_embed_online.py](../../examples/pooling/token_embed/colqwen3_token_embed_online.py)
-- Reranking: [examples/pooling/score/colqwen3_rerank_online.py](../../examples/pooling/score/colqwen3_rerank_online.py)
+- Reranking (text + multi-modal): [examples/pooling/score/colqwen3_rerank_online.py](../../examples/pooling/score/colqwen3_rerank_online.py)
 
 ### BAAI/bge-m3
 

examples/pooling/score/colqwen3_rerank_online.py

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+# ruff: noqa: E501
 """
-Example of using ColQwen3 late interaction model for reranking.
+Example of using ColQwen3 late interaction model for reranking and scoring.
 
 ColQwen3 is a multi-modal ColBERT-style model based on Qwen3-VL.
 It produces per-token embeddings and uses MaxSim scoring for retrieval
@@ -14,13 +15,65 @@ Then run this script:
     python colqwen3_rerank_online.py
 """
 
+import base64
+from io import BytesIO
+
 import requests
+from PIL import Image
 
 MODEL = "TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-4b"
 BASE_URL = "http://127.0.0.1:8000"
 
 headers = {"accept": "application/json", "Content-Type": "application/json"}
 
+# ── Image helpers ──────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def load_image(url: str) -> Image.Image:
+    """Download an image from URL (handles Wikimedia 403)."""
+    for hdrs in (
+        {},
+        {"User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; ColQwen3-demo/1.0)"},
+    ):
+        resp = requests.get(url, headers=hdrs, timeout=15)
+        if resp.status_code == 403:
+            continue
+        resp.raise_for_status()
+        return Image.open(BytesIO(resp.content)).convert("RGB")
+    raise RuntimeError(f"Could not fetch image from {url}")
+
+
+def encode_image_base64(image: Image.Image) -> str:
+    """Encode a PIL image to a base64 data URI."""
+    buf = BytesIO()
+    image.save(buf, format="PNG")
+    return "data:image/png;base64," + base64.b64encode(buf.getvalue()).decode()
+
+
+def make_image_content(image_url: str, text: str = "Describe the image.") -> dict:
+    """Build a ScoreMultiModalParam dict from an image URL."""
+    image = load_image(image_url)
+    return {
+        "content": [
+            {
+                "type": "image_url",
+                "image_url": {"url": encode_image_base64(image)},
+            },
+            {"type": "text", "text": text},
+        ]
+    }
+
+
+# ── Sample image URLs ─────────────────────────────────────
+
+IMAGE_URLS = {
+    "beijing": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Beijing_skyline_at_night.JPG",
+    "london": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/London_skyline.jpg",
+    "singapore": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Singapore_skyline_2022.jpg",
+}
+
+# ── Text-only examples ────────────────────────────────────
+
 
 def rerank_text():
     """Text-only reranking via /rerank endpoint."""
@@ -120,11 +173,86 @@ def score_text_top_n():
         print(f"  {response.text[:300]}")
 
 
+# ── Multi-modal examples (text query × image documents) ──
+
+
+def score_text_vs_images():
+    """Score a text query against image documents via /score."""
+    print()
+    print("=" * 60)
+    print("4. Multi-modal scoring: text query vs image docs (/score)")
+    print("=" * 60)
+
+    query = "Retrieve the city of Beijing"
+    labels = list(IMAGE_URLS.keys())
+    print(f"\n  Loading {len(labels)} images...")
+    image_contents = [make_image_content(IMAGE_URLS[name]) for name in labels]
+
+    data = {
+        "model": MODEL,
+        "data_1": query,
+        "data_2": image_contents,
+    }
+
+    response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/score", headers=headers, json=data)
+
+    if response.status_code == 200:
+        result = response.json()
+        print(f'\n  Query: "{query}"\n')
+        for item in result["data"]:
+            idx = item["index"]
+            print(f"    Doc {idx} [{labels[idx]}] score={item['score']:.4f}")
+    else:
+        print(f"  Request failed: {response.status_code}")
+        print(f"  {response.text[:300]}")
+
+
+def rerank_text_vs_images():
+    """Rerank image documents by a text query via /rerank."""
+    print()
+    print("=" * 60)
+    print("5. Multi-modal reranking: text query vs image docs (/rerank)")
+    print("=" * 60)
+
+    query = "Retrieve the city of London"
+    labels = list(IMAGE_URLS.keys())
+    print(f"\n  Loading {len(labels)} images...")
+    image_contents = [make_image_content(IMAGE_URLS[name]) for name in labels]
+
+    data = {
+        "model": MODEL,
+        "query": query,
+        "documents": image_contents,
+        "top_n": 2,
+    }
+
+    response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/rerank", headers=headers, json=data)
+
+    if response.status_code == 200:
+        result = response.json()
+        print(f'\n  Query: "{query}"')
+        print(f"  Top {data['top_n']} results:\n")
+        for item in result["results"]:
+            idx = item["index"]
+            print(f"    [{item['relevance_score']:.4f}] {labels[idx]}")
+    else:
+        print(f"  Request failed: {response.status_code}")
+        print(f"  {response.text[:300]}")
+
+
+# ── Main ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
 def main():
+    # Text-only
     rerank_text()
     score_text()
     score_text_top_n()
 
+    # Multi-modal (text query × image documents)
+    score_text_vs_images()
+    rerank_text_vs_images()
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()

tests/models/multimodal/pooling/test_colqwen3.py

@@ -7,19 +7,31 @@ ColBERT-style late interaction scoring (MaxSim). It produces per-token
 embeddings for both text and image inputs.
 """
 
+import base64
+from io import BytesIO
+
 import pytest
 import torch
+from PIL import Image
+
+from vllm.entrypoints.chat_utils import (
+    ChatCompletionContentPartImageParam,
+    ChatCompletionContentPartTextParam,
+)
+from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.score.utils import ScoreMultiModalParam
 
 from ....conftest import VllmRunner
 
 MODELS = [
     "TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-4b",
     "OpenSearch-AI/Ops-Colqwen3-4B",
+    "nvidia/nemotron-colembed-vl-4b-v2",
 ]
 
 EMBED_DIMS = {
     "TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-4b": 320,
     "OpenSearch-AI/Ops-Colqwen3-4B": 2560,
+    "nvidia/nemotron-colembed-vl-4b-v2": 2560,
 }
 
 TEXT_QUERIES = [
@@ -33,6 +45,43 @@ TEXT_DOCUMENTS = [
 ]
 
 DTYPE = "half"
+GPU_MEMORY_UTILIZATION = 0.7
+
+
+def _make_base64_image(
+    width: int = 64, height: int = 64, color: tuple[int, int, int] = (255, 0, 0)
+) -> str:
+    """Create a small solid-color PNG image and return its base64 data URI."""
+    img = Image.new("RGB", (width, height), color)
+    buf = BytesIO()
+    img.save(buf, format="PNG")
+    b64 = base64.b64encode(buf.getvalue()).decode()
+    return f"data:image/png;base64,{b64}"
+
+
+def _make_image_mm_param(
+    image_uri: str,
+    text: str | None = None,
+) -> ScoreMultiModalParam:
+    """Build a ScoreMultiModalParam containing an image (and optional text)."""
+    content: list = [
+        ChatCompletionContentPartImageParam(
+            type="image_url",
+            image_url={"url": image_uri},
+        ),
+    ]
+    if text is not None:
+        content.append(
+            ChatCompletionContentPartTextParam(type="text", text=text),
+        )
+    return ScoreMultiModalParam(content=content)
+
+
+def _make_text_mm_param(text: str) -> ScoreMultiModalParam:
+    """Build a ScoreMultiModalParam containing only text."""
+    return ScoreMultiModalParam(
+        content=[ChatCompletionContentPartTextParam(type="text", text=text)],
+    )
 
 
 def _run_token_embed_test(
@@ -48,6 +97,7 @@ def _run_token_embed_test(
         dtype=dtype,
         max_model_len=4096,
         enforce_eager=True,
+        gpu_memory_utilization=GPU_MEMORY_UTILIZATION,
     ) as vllm_model:
         outputs = vllm_model.token_embed([TEXT_QUERIES[0]])
 
@@ -83,6 +133,7 @@ def _run_late_interaction_test(
         dtype=dtype,
         max_model_len=4096,
         enforce_eager=True,
+        gpu_memory_utilization=GPU_MEMORY_UTILIZATION,
     ) as vllm_model:
         q_outputs = vllm_model.token_embed([TEXT_QUERIES[0]])
         d_outputs = vllm_model.token_embed([TEXT_DOCUMENTS[0]])
@@ -118,6 +169,7 @@ def _run_relevance_test(
         dtype=dtype,
         max_model_len=4096,
         enforce_eager=True,
+        gpu_memory_utilization=GPU_MEMORY_UTILIZATION,
     ) as vllm_model:
         scores = vllm_model.score(query, documents)
 
@@ -154,3 +206,142 @@ def test_colqwen3_relevance_ordering(
     dtype: str,
 ) -> None:
     _run_relevance_test(vllm_runner, model, dtype=dtype)
+
+
+# ── Multimodal scoring tests ────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def _run_multimodal_text_query_image_docs_test(
+    vllm_runner: type[VllmRunner],
+    model: str,
+    *,
+    dtype: str,
+) -> None:
+    """Score a text query against image documents via the multimodal path.
+
+    Verifies that score_data_to_prompts correctly handles image content
+    and produces valid MaxSim scores.
+    """
+    red_image = _make_base64_image(64, 64, color=(255, 0, 0))
+    blue_image = _make_base64_image(64, 64, color=(0, 0, 255))
+
+    query = "Describe the red object"
+    image_docs = [
+        _make_image_mm_param(red_image),
+        _make_image_mm_param(blue_image),
+    ]
+
+    with vllm_runner(
+        model,
+        runner="pooling",
+        dtype=dtype,
+        max_model_len=4096,
+        enforce_eager=True,
+        gpu_memory_utilization=GPU_MEMORY_UTILIZATION,
+    ) as vllm_model:
+        scores = vllm_model.llm.score(query, image_docs)
+
+        assert len(scores) == 2
+        for s in scores:
+            assert isinstance(s.outputs.score, float)
+
+
+def _run_multimodal_mixed_docs_test(
+    vllm_runner: type[VllmRunner],
+    model: str,
+    *,
+    dtype: str,
+) -> None:
+    """Score a text query against a mix of text and image documents.
+
+    Ensures the late-interaction path handles heterogeneous document
+    types (plain strings alongside ScoreMultiModalParam images) in
+    a single call.
+    """
+    red_image = _make_base64_image(64, 64, color=(255, 0, 0))
+
+    query = "What is the capital of France?"
+    documents: list = [
+        "The capital of France is Paris.",
+        _make_image_mm_param(red_image),
+    ]
+
+    with vllm_runner(
+        model,
+        runner="pooling",
+        dtype=dtype,
+        max_model_len=4096,
+        enforce_eager=True,
+        gpu_memory_utilization=GPU_MEMORY_UTILIZATION,
+    ) as vllm_model:
+        scores = vllm_model.llm.score(query, documents)
+
+        assert len(scores) == 2
+        for s in scores:
+            assert isinstance(s.outputs.score, float)
+        # Text document about France should score higher than a random image
+        assert scores[0].outputs.score > scores[1].outputs.score
+
+
+def _run_multimodal_image_query_text_docs_test(
+    vllm_runner: type[VllmRunner],
+    model: str,
+    *,
+    dtype: str,
+) -> None:
+    """Score an image query against text documents.
+
+    Verifies the reverse direction: multimodal query with text-only
+    documents through the late-interaction scoring path.
+    """
+    red_image = _make_base64_image(64, 64, color=(255, 0, 0))
+    image_query = _make_image_mm_param(red_image, text="red color")
+
+    documents = [
+        "A bright red sports car.",
+        "The weather forecast shows rain tomorrow.",
+    ]
+
+    with vllm_runner(
+        model,
+        runner="pooling",
+        dtype=dtype,
+        max_model_len=4096,
+        enforce_eager=True,
+        gpu_memory_utilization=GPU_MEMORY_UTILIZATION,
+    ) as vllm_model:
+        scores = vllm_model.llm.score(image_query, documents)
+
+        assert len(scores) == 2
+        for s in scores:
+            assert isinstance(s.outputs.score, float)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("model", MODELS)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("dtype", [DTYPE])
+def test_colqwen3_multimodal_text_query_image_docs(
+    vllm_runner,
+    model: str,
+    dtype: str,
+) -> None:
+    _run_multimodal_text_query_image_docs_test(vllm_runner, model, dtype=dtype)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("model", MODELS)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("dtype", [DTYPE])
+def test_colqwen3_multimodal_mixed_docs(
+    vllm_runner,
+    model: str,
+    dtype: str,
+) -> None:
+    _run_multimodal_mixed_docs_test(vllm_runner, model, dtype=dtype)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("model", MODELS)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("dtype", [DTYPE])
+def test_colqwen3_multimodal_image_query_text_docs(
+    vllm_runner,
+    model: str,
+    dtype: str,
+) -> None:
+    _run_multimodal_image_query_text_docs_test(vllm_runner, model, dtype=dtype)

tests/models/registry.py

@@ -603,6 +603,9 @@ _EMBEDDING_EXAMPLE_MODELS = {
     "OpsColQwen3Model": _HfExamplesInfo(
         "OpenSearch-AI/Ops-Colqwen3-4B", trust_remote_code=True
     ),
+    "Qwen3VLNemotronEmbedModel": _HfExamplesInfo(
+        "nvidia/nemotron-colembed-vl-4b-v2",
+    ),
     "SiglipModel": _HfExamplesInfo("google/siglip-base-patch16-224"),
     "PrithviGeoSpatialMAE": _HfExamplesInfo(
         "ibm-nasa-geospatial/Prithvi-EO-2.0-300M-TL-Sen1Floods11",

vllm/entrypoints/llm.py

@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.score.utils import (
     compress_token_type_ids,
     compute_maxsim_score,
     get_score_prompt,
+    score_data_to_prompts,
     validate_score_input,
 )
 from vllm.entrypoints.utils import log_non_default_args
@@ -1395,25 +1396,13 @@ class LLM:
 
         tokenizer = self.get_tokenizer()
 
-        # Extract text from ScoreData
-        text_1: list[str] = []
-        for text in data_1:
-            if not isinstance(text, str):
-                raise NotImplementedError(
-                    "Late interaction scores currently do not support multimodal input."
-                )
-            text_1.append(text)
+        # Convert ScoreData to PromptType (handles both text and multimodal)
+        model_config = self.model_config
+        prompts_1 = score_data_to_prompts(data_1, "query", model_config)
+        prompts_2 = score_data_to_prompts(data_2, "document", model_config)
 
-        text_2: list[str] = []
-        for text in data_2:
-            if not isinstance(text, str):
-                raise NotImplementedError(
-                    "Late interaction scores currently do not support multimodal input."
-                )
-            text_2.append(text)
-
-        encoded_output = self.encode(
-            text_1 + text_2,
+        encoded_output: list[PoolingRequestOutput] = self.encode(
+            prompts_1 + prompts_2,
             use_tqdm=use_tqdm,
             lora_request=lora_request,
             pooling_params=pooling_params,
@@ -1421,8 +1410,8 @@ class LLM:
             tokenization_kwargs=tokenization_kwargs,
         )
 
-        encoded_output_1 = encoded_output[0 : len(text_1)]
-        encoded_output_2 = encoded_output[len(text_1) :]
+        encoded_output_1: list[PoolingRequestOutput] = encoded_output[: len(prompts_1)]
+        encoded_output_2: list[PoolingRequestOutput] = encoded_output[len(prompts_1) :]
 
         if len(encoded_output_1) == 1:
             encoded_output_1 = encoded_output_1 * len(encoded_output_2)

vllm/entrypoints/pooling/score/serving.py

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.score.utils import (
     compress_token_type_ids,
     compute_maxsim_score,
     get_score_prompt,
+    parse_score_data_single,
     validate_score_input,
 )
 from vllm.inputs.data import ProcessorInputs, TokensPrompt, token_inputs
@@ -174,6 +175,43 @@ class ServingScores(OpenAIServing):
 
         return final_res_batch
 
+    def _preprocess_late_interaction_item(
+        self,
+        data: ScoreData,
+        role: str,
+        request: RerankRequest | ScoreRequest,
+        tokenizer: TokenizerLike,
+        tokenization_kwargs: dict[str, Any],
+    ) -> tuple[str, TokensPrompt]:
+        """Parse a single ScoreData into a text + optional multimodal
+        TokensPrompt for late-interaction encoding.
+
+        For plain strings, tokenises directly.
+        For multimodal content parts, extracts text and multi_modal_data.
+        """
+        model_config = self.model_config
+
+        if isinstance(data, str):
+            text, mm_data, mm_uuids = data, None, None
+        else:
+            text, mm_data, mm_uuids = parse_score_data_single(data, role, model_config)
+
+        prompt_inputs = tokenizer(text, **tokenization_kwargs)
+        self._validate_input(request, prompt_inputs["input_ids"], text)
+
+        engine_prompt = TokensPrompt(
+            prompt_token_ids=prompt_inputs["input_ids"],
+        )
+
+        if mm_data is not None:
+            engine_prompt["multi_modal_data"] = mm_data
+        if mm_uuids is not None:
+            engine_prompt["multi_modal_uuids"] = mm_uuids
+        if request.mm_processor_kwargs is not None:
+            engine_prompt["mm_processor_kwargs"] = request.mm_processor_kwargs
+
+        return text, engine_prompt
+
     async def _late_interaction_score(
         self,
         data_1: list[ScoreData],
@@ -189,37 +227,36 @@ class ServingScores(OpenAIServing):
         Encodes queries and documents into per-token embeddings, then computes
         MaxSim: sum over query tokens of max similarity to any document token.
         """
-        input_texts: list[str] = []
-        for text in data_1 + data_2:
-            if not isinstance(text, str):
-                raise NotImplementedError(
-                    "Late interaction scores currently do not support multimodal input."
-                )
-            input_texts.append(text)
-
         model_config = self.model_config
         tokenizer = self.renderer.get_tokenizer()
+        tokenization_kwargs = request.build_tok_params(model_config).get_encode_kwargs()
 
-        encode_async = make_async(
-            tokenizer.encode,
+        all_data = data_1 + data_2
+        roles = ["query"] * len(data_1) + ["document"] * len(data_2)
+
+        preprocess_async = make_async(
+            self._preprocess_late_interaction_item,
             executor=self._tokenizer_executor,
         )
 
-        tokenization_kwargs = request.build_tok_params(model_config).get_encode_kwargs()
-        tokenized_prompts = await asyncio.gather(
-            *(encode_async(t, **tokenization_kwargs) for t in input_texts)
+        preprocessed = await asyncio.gather(
+            *(
+                preprocess_async(
+                    data=d,
+                    role=r,
+                    request=request,
+                    tokenizer=tokenizer,
+                    tokenization_kwargs=tokenization_kwargs,
+                )
+                for d, r in zip(all_data, roles)
+            )
         )
 
-        engine_prompts: list[ProcessorInputs] = []
-        for tok_result, input_text in zip(tokenized_prompts, input_texts):
-            text_token_prompt = self._validate_input(request, tok_result, input_text)
-
-            engine_prompts.append(
-                token_inputs(
-                    text_token_prompt["prompt_token_ids"],
-                    prompt=input_text,
-                )
-            )
+        input_texts: list[str] = []
+        engine_prompts: list[TokensPrompt] = []
+        for text, engine_prompt in preprocessed:
+            input_texts.append(text)
+            engine_prompts.append(engine_prompt)
 
         # Schedule the request and get the result generator.
         generators: list[AsyncGenerator[PoolingRequestOutput, None]] = []

vllm/entrypoints/pooling/score/utils.py

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from vllm.entrypoints.chat_utils import (
     _parse_chat_message_content_parts,
 )
 from vllm.inputs import TokensPrompt
+from vllm.inputs.data import PromptType, TextPrompt
 from vllm.model_executor.models.interfaces import supports_score_template
 from vllm.multimodal.inputs import MultiModalDataDict, MultiModalUUIDDict
 from vllm.outputs import PoolingRequestOutput
@@ -153,31 +154,91 @@ def validate_score_input(
     return score_input_1, score_input_2
 
 
+def _ensure_str(content: list[ConversationMessage]) -> str:
+    """Extract a single string prompt from parsed conversation content."""
+    assert len(content) == 1
+    prompt = content[0]["content"]
+    if prompt is not None and isinstance(prompt, str):
+        return cast(str, prompt)
+    raise ValueError(f"Only string content is supported, but got {content}.")
+
+
 def parse_score_data(
     data_1: ScoreData,
     data_2: ScoreData,
     model_config: ModelConfig,
 ) -> tuple[str, str, MultiModalDataDict | None, MultiModalUUIDDict | None]:
+    """Parse a query-document pair into text prompts and shared multi-modal
+    data.
+
+    Uses a **single** :class:`MultiModalItemTracker` so that multi-modal
+    items from both inputs are merged into one ``mm_data`` dict.  This is
+    the correct behaviour for cross-encoder scoring, where query and
+    document are concatenated into a single model prompt.
+    """
     mm_tracker = MultiModalItemTracker(model_config)
 
     content_1 = _parse_score_content("query", data_1, mm_tracker)
     content_2 = _parse_score_content("document", data_2, mm_tracker)
 
-    def ensure_str(content: list[ConversationMessage]) -> str:
-        assert len(content) == 1
-        prompt = content[0]["content"]
-        if prompt is not None and isinstance(prompt, str):
-            return cast(str, prompt)
-        else:
-            raise ValueError(f"Only string content is supported, but got {content}.")
-
-    prompt_1 = ensure_str(content_1)
-    prompt_2 = ensure_str(content_2)
+    prompt_1 = _ensure_str(content_1)
+    prompt_2 = _ensure_str(content_2)
     mm_items, mm_uuids = mm_tracker.resolve_items()
 
     return prompt_1, prompt_2, mm_items, mm_uuids
 
 
+def parse_score_data_single(
+    data: ScoreData,
+    role: str,
+    model_config: ModelConfig,
+) -> tuple[str, MultiModalDataDict | None, MultiModalUUIDDict | None]:
+    """Parse **one** ScoreData into a text prompt and its own multi-modal
+    data.
+
+    Unlike :func:`parse_score_data`, each call creates an **independent**
+    :class:`MultiModalItemTracker` so multi-modal items are kept separate.
+    This is the correct behaviour for late-interaction scoring, where
+    query and document are encoded independently.
+    """
+    mm_tracker = MultiModalItemTracker(model_config)
+    content = _parse_score_content(role, data, mm_tracker)
+
+    prompt = _ensure_str(content)
+    mm_items, mm_uuids = mm_tracker.resolve_items()
+    return prompt, mm_items, mm_uuids
+
+
+def score_data_to_prompts(
+    data_list: list[ScoreData],
+    role: str,
+    model_config: ModelConfig,
+) -> list[PromptType]:
+    """Convert a list of ScoreData into PromptType objects.
+
+    For plain text inputs, returns the string directly.
+    For multimodal inputs (list of content parts), parses them into
+    a :class:`TextPrompt` with attached ``multi_modal_data`` /
+    ``multi_modal_uuids``.
+
+    This is used by late-interaction scoring where each query/document
+    is encoded independently.
+    """
+    prompts: list[PromptType] = []
+    for data in data_list:
+        if isinstance(data, str):
+            prompts.append(data)
+        else:
+            text, mm_data, mm_uuids = parse_score_data_single(data, role, model_config)
+            prompt: TextPrompt = TextPrompt(prompt=text)
+            if mm_data is not None:
+                prompt["multi_modal_data"] = mm_data
+            if mm_uuids is not None:
+                prompt["multi_modal_uuids"] = mm_uuids
+            prompts.append(prompt)
+    return prompts
+
+
 def _parse_score_content(
     role: str,
     data: ScoreData,

vllm/model_executor/models/colqwen3.py

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Based on: Qwen3-VL backbone with custom text projection
 Target models:
 - TomoroAI/tomoro-colqwen3-embed-8b
 - OpenSearch-AI/Ops-Colqwen3-4B
+- nvidia/nemotron-colembed-vl-4b-v2
 """
 
 from collections.abc import Iterable, Mapping
@@ -229,13 +230,14 @@ class ColQwen3Model(
         if not isinstance(hidden_states, torch.Tensor):
             return hidden_states  # type: ignore
 
-        proj_dtype = self.custom_text_proj.weight.dtype  # type: ignore
-        if hidden_states.dtype != proj_dtype:
-            hidden_states = hidden_states.to(proj_dtype)
+        if self.custom_text_proj is not None:
+            proj_dtype = self.custom_text_proj.weight.dtype
+            if hidden_states.dtype != proj_dtype:
+                hidden_states = hidden_states.to(proj_dtype)
+            hidden_states = self.custom_text_proj(hidden_states)
 
-        # Project to embedding dimension and L2 normalize
-        proj = self.custom_text_proj(hidden_states)  # type: ignore
-        return torch.nn.functional.normalize(proj, p=2, dim=-1)
+        # L2 normalize
+        return torch.nn.functional.normalize(hidden_states, p=2, dim=-1)
 
     # Names used for the projection layer across different ColQwen3 variants
     _PROJ_LAYER_NAMES = {

vllm/model_executor/models/registry.py

@@ -256,6 +256,7 @@ _EMBEDDING_MODELS = {
     "Qwen2VLForConditionalGeneration": ("qwen2_vl", "Qwen2VLForConditionalGeneration"),  # noqa: E501
     "ColQwen3": ("colqwen3", "ColQwen3Model"),
     "OpsColQwen3Model": ("colqwen3", "ColQwen3Model"),
+    "Qwen3VLNemotronEmbedModel": ("colqwen3", "ColQwen3Model"),
     "SiglipModel": ("siglip", "SiglipEmbeddingModel"),
     # Technically Terratorch models work on images, both in
     # input and output. I am adding it here because it piggy-backs on embedding

vllm/transformers_utils/config.py

@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ _CONFIG_REGISTRY: dict[str, type[PretrainedConfig]] = LazyConfigDict(
     chatglm="ChatGLMConfig",
     colqwen3="ColQwen3Config",
     ops_colqwen3="OpsColQwen3Config",
+    qwen3_vl_nemotron_embed="Qwen3VLNemotronEmbedConfig",
     deepseek_vl_v2="DeepseekVLV2Config",
     deepseek_v32="DeepseekV3Config",
     flex_olmo="FlexOlmoConfig",