diff --git a/milli/src/vector/parsed_vectors.rs b/milli/src/vector/parsed_vectors.rs
index 8e5ccf690..526516fef 100644
--- a/milli/src/vector/parsed_vectors.rs
+++ b/milli/src/vector/parsed_vectors.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ use std::collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet};
 
 use deserr::{take_cf_content, DeserializeError, Deserr, Sequence};
 use obkv::KvReader;
+use serde_json::value::RawValue;
 use serde_json::{from_slice, Value};
 
 use super::Embedding;
@@ -11,6 +12,13 @@ use crate::{DocumentId, FieldId, InternalError, UserError};
 
 pub const RESERVED_VECTORS_FIELD_NAME: &str = "_vectors";
 
+#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize, Debug)]
+#[serde(untagged)]
+pub enum RawVectors<'doc> {
+    Explicit(#[serde(borrow)] RawExplicitVectors<'doc>),
+    ImplicitlyUserProvided(#[serde(borrow)] &'doc RawValue),
+}
+
 #[derive(serde::Serialize, Debug)]
 #[serde(untagged)]
 pub enum Vectors {
@@ -69,6 +77,22 @@ impl Vectors {
     }
 }
 
+impl<'doc> RawVectors<'doc> {
+    pub fn must_regenerate(&self) -> bool {
+        match self {
+            RawVectors::ImplicitlyUserProvided(_) => false,
+            RawVectors::Explicit(RawExplicitVectors { regenerate, .. }) => *regenerate,
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub fn embeddings(&self) -> Option<&'doc RawValue> {
+        match self {
+            RawVectors::ImplicitlyUserProvided(embeddings) => Some(embeddings),
+            RawVectors::Explicit(RawExplicitVectors { embeddings, regenerate: _ }) => *embeddings,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(serde::Serialize, Deserr, Debug)]
 #[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
 pub struct ExplicitVectors {
@@ -78,6 +102,15 @@ pub struct ExplicitVectors {
     pub regenerate: bool,
 }
 
+#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize, Debug)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
+pub struct RawExplicitVectors<'doc> {
+    #[serde(borrow)]
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub embeddings: Option<&'doc RawValue>,
+    pub regenerate: bool,
+}
+
 pub enum VectorState {
     Inline(Vectors),
     Manual,