diff --git a/geniml/search/query2vec/text2vec.py b/geniml/search/query2vec/text2vec.py
index 3b9a854..d867670 100644
--- a/geniml/search/query2vec/text2vec.py
+++ b/geniml/search/query2vec/text2vec.py
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@
 from typing import Union
 
 import numpy as np
-from langchain_huggingface.embeddings import HuggingFaceEmbeddings
+
+# from langchain_huggingface.embeddings import HuggingFaceEmbeddings
+from fastembed import TextEmbedding
 
 from ...const import PKG_NAME
 from ...text2bednn import Vec2VecFNN
@@ -20,7 +22,7 @@ def __init__(self, hf_repo: str, v2v: Union[str, Vec2VecFNN, None]):
         :param v2v: a Vec2VecFNN (see geniml/text2bednn/text2bednn.py) or a model repository on Hugging Face
         """
         # Set model that embed natural language
-        self.text_embedder = HuggingFaceEmbeddings(model_name=hf_repo)
+        self.text_embedder = TextEmbedding(model_name=hf_repo)
         # Set model that maps natural language embeddings into the embedding space of region sets
         if isinstance(v2v, Vec2VecFNN):
             self.v2v = v2v
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ def forward(self, query: str) -> np.ndarray:
         :return: the embedding vector of query
         """
         # embed query string
-        query_embedding = np.array(self.text_embedder.embed_query(query))
+        query_embedding = list(self.text_embedder.embed(query))[0]
         if self.v2v is None:
             return query_embedding
         else:
diff --git a/tests/test_search.py b/tests/test_search.py
index c056514..612f40e 100644
--- a/tests/test_search.py
+++ b/tests/test_search.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 from geniml.search import BED2BEDSearchInterface, BED2Vec, Text2BEDSearchInterface, Text2Vec
 from geniml.search.backends import BiVectorBackend, HNSWBackend, QdrantBackend
 from geniml.search.backends.filebackend import DEP_HNSWLIB
+from geniml.search.interfaces.mlfree import BiVectorSearchInterface
 
 DATA_FOLDER_PATH = os.path.join(
     os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))), "tests", "data"
@@ -274,7 +275,7 @@ def query_bed():
 
 def cosine_similarity(vec1: np.array, vec2: np.array) -> float:
     # Ensure the vectors have shape (100,)
-    assert vec1.shape == (100,) and vec2.shape == (100,), "Both vectors must have shape (100,)"
+    assert vec1.shape == (100,) and vec2.shape == (100,)
 
     # Compute the dot product of the two vectors
     dot_product = np.dot(vec1, vec2)
@@ -474,6 +475,10 @@ def test_HNSWBackend_save(filenames, bed_hnswb, bed_embeddings, temp_bed_idx_pat
     "not config.getoption('--qdrant')",
     reason="Only run when --qdrant is given",
 )
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    "not config.getoption('--huggingface')",
+    reason="Only run when --huggingface is given",
+)
 def test_BiVectorBackend(
     bed_hnswb,
     metadata_hnswb,
@@ -483,16 +488,9 @@ def test_BiVectorBackend(
     metadata_collection,
     text_embeddings,
     metadata_payloads,
+    nl_embed_repo,
 ):
-    def bivec_test(bivec_backend, dist: bool = False, rank: bool = False):
-        query_vec = np.random.random(
-            384,
-        )
-        search_results = bivec_backend.search(
-            query_vec, 2, with_payload=True, with_vectors=True, distance=dist, rank=rank
-        )
-        assert isinstance(search_results, list)
-        assert len(search_results) == 2
+    def search_result_test(search_results: Dict, rank: bool):
         min_score = 100.0
         max_rank = -1
         for result in search_results:
@@ -517,6 +515,18 @@ def bivec_test(bivec_backend, dist: bool = False, rank: bool = False):
             assert isinstance(result["payload"]["name"], str)
             assert isinstance(result["payload"]["metadata"], dict)
 
+    def bivec_test(bivec_backend, dist: bool = False, rank: bool = False):
+        query_vec = np.random.random(
+            384,
+        )
+        search_results = bivec_backend.search(
+            query_vec, 2, with_payload=True, with_vectors=True, distance=dist, rank=rank
+        )
+        assert isinstance(search_results, list)
+        assert len(search_results) == 2
+
+        search_result_test(search_results, rank)
+
     # test QdrantBackend
     bed_backend = QdrantBackend(collection=bed_collection)
     # load data
@@ -528,6 +538,20 @@ def bivec_test(bivec_backend, dist: bool = False, rank: bool = False):
     bivec_qd_backend = BiVectorBackend(text_backend, bed_backend)
     bivec_test(bivec_qd_backend, rank=True)
     bivec_test(bivec_qd_backend, rank=False)
+    # test QdrantBackend + Interface
+    bivec_qd_interface = BiVectorSearchInterface(bivec_qd_backend, nl_embed_repo)
+    interface_result = bivec_qd_interface.query_search(
+        "lung cancer cell line", 2, with_payload=True, with_vectors=True, rank=True
+    )
+
+    search_result_test(interface_result, rank=True)
+
+    interface_result = bivec_qd_interface.query_search(
+        "lung cancer cell line", 2, with_payload=True, with_vectors=True, rank=False
+    )
+
+    search_result_test(interface_result, rank=False)
+
     bivec_qd_backend.metadata_backend.qd_client.delete_collection(text_backend.collection)
     bivec_qd_backend.bed_backend.qd_client.delete_collection(bed_backend.collection)
 
@@ -536,6 +560,19 @@ def bivec_test(bivec_backend, dist: bool = False, rank: bool = False):
     bivec_hnsw_backend = BiVectorBackend(metadata_hnswb, bed_hnswb)
     bivec_test(bivec_hnsw_backend, dist=True, rank=True)
     bivec_test(bivec_hnsw_backend, dist=True, rank=False)
+    # test HNSWBackend + Interface
+    bivec_hnsw_interface = BiVectorSearchInterface(bivec_hnsw_backend, nl_embed_repo)
+    interface_result = bivec_hnsw_interface.query_search(
+        "lung cancer cell line", 2, with_payload=True, with_vectors=True, distance=True, rank=True
+    )
+
+    search_result_test(interface_result, rank=True)
+
+    interface_result = bivec_hnsw_interface.query_search(
+        "lung cancer cell line", 2, with_payload=True, with_vectors=True, distance=True, rank=False
+    )
+
+    search_result_test(interface_result, rank=False)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(