diff --git a/src/embeddings/embeddings_api.cpp b/src/embeddings/embeddings_api.cpp
index 8c2ff60139..91742bed41 100644
--- a/src/embeddings/embeddings_api.cpp
+++ b/src/embeddings/embeddings_api.cpp
@@ -112,9 +112,12 @@ std::variant<EmbeddingsRequest, std::string> EmbeddingsRequest::fromJson(rapidjs
     if (input_strings.size() > 0) {
         request.input = input_strings;
     }
-    if (input_tokens.size() > 0) {
+    else if (input_tokens.size() > 0) {
         request.input = input_tokens;
     }
+    else {
+        return "no input provided in request";
+    }
     return request;
 }
 
@@ -128,7 +131,7 @@ absl::Status EmbeddingsHandler::parseRequest() {
     return absl::OkStatus();
 }
 
-std::variant<std::vector<std::string>, std::vector<std::vector<int64_t>>>& EmbeddingsHandler::getInput() {
+std::variant<std::monostate, std::vector<std::string>, std::vector<std::vector<int64_t>>>& EmbeddingsHandler::getInput() {
     return request.input;
 }
 EmbeddingsRequest::EncodingFormat EmbeddingsHandler::getEncodingFormat() const {
diff --git a/src/embeddings/embeddings_api.hpp b/src/embeddings/embeddings_api.hpp
index 043cdcd618..c49f1e2ebb 100644
--- a/src/embeddings/embeddings_api.hpp
+++ b/src/embeddings/embeddings_api.hpp
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ struct EmbeddingsRequest {
         FLOAT,
         BASE64
     };
-    std::variant<std::vector<std::string>, std::vector<std::vector<int64_t>>> input;
+    std::variant<std::monostate, std::vector<std::string>, std::vector<std::vector<int64_t>>> input;
     EncodingFormat encoding_format;
 
     static std::variant<EmbeddingsRequest, std::string> fromJson(rapidjson::Document* request);
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class EmbeddingsHandler {
     EmbeddingsHandler(rapidjson::Document& document) :
         doc(document) {}
 
-    std::variant<std::vector<std::string>, std::vector<std::vector<int64_t>>>& getInput();
+    std::variant<std::monostate, std::vector<std::string>, std::vector<std::vector<int64_t>>>& getInput();
     EmbeddingsRequest::EncodingFormat getEncodingFormat() const;
 
     absl::Status parseRequest();
diff --git a/src/test/embeddingsnode_test.cpp b/src/test/embeddingsnode_test.cpp
index 61a616a3f3..aa3c6d5388 100644
--- a/src/test/embeddingsnode_test.cpp
+++ b/src/test/embeddingsnode_test.cpp
@@ -283,6 +283,19 @@ TEST_F(EmbeddingsHttpTest, simplePositiveMultipleStrings) {
     ASSERT_EQ(d["data"][1]["embedding"].Size(), EMBEDDING_OUTPUT_SIZE);
 }
 
+TEST_F(EmbeddingsHttpTest, emptyInput) {
+    std::string requestBody = R"(
+        {
+            "model": "embeddings",
+            "input": []
+        }
+    )";
+    Status status = handler->dispatchToProcessor(endpointEmbeddings, requestBody, &response, comp, responseComponents, &writer);
+    ASSERT_EQ(status,
+        ovms::StatusCode::MEDIAPIPE_EXECUTION_ERROR)
+        << status.string();
+}
+
 class EmbeddingsExtensionTest : public ::testing::Test {
 protected:
     static std::unique_ptr<std::thread> t;