River anomaly detector failed error "learn_many expects a dictionary of features"

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

Fix this in River by acting on the exact message first: reshape each row into a dictionary mapping feature names to values and pass a list of those dictionaries, keeping numeric types as numbers. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one item, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.

learn_many expects a dictionary of features

Use this when

• The operation in River fails with this exact message: learn_many expects a dictionary of features.
• The same failure repeats on retry with unchanged inputs.
• A review, export or check is blocked until this item completes.

Not for this skill when

• The message is a permission or outage notice from the platform. Resolve that first, then return here if this error remains.
• The operation completes and you only disagree with its output. That is a quality review, not this failure.

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure with the smallest scope that still shows it in River, and copy the full message plus the item, user or metric involved into the run notes. Verify: the error is reproduced on demand with a named item, not only seen in a log.
2. Apply the specific fix for this error: reshape each row into a dictionary mapping feature names to values and pass a list of those dictionaries, keeping numeric types as numbers. Verify: learning runs over the batch and predictions update.
3. Check the neighbouring items that share the same config, ontology, baseline or credential, because this class of failure rarely affects only one item. Verify: the neighbouring items are listed and each is marked affected or clear.
4. Rerun the original operation in River on the previously failing scope, watching for the same message rather than assuming success from a quiet log. Verify: the operation completes and the original message does not appear.
5. Compare the result counts, decisions or alerts against the source in River so a silent partial success is caught before sign off. Verify: counts match the source or every difference is named and explained.
6. Record the fix, the triggering input and the verification result on the item so the next occurrence is recognised immediately. Verify: the record names the error, the fix applied and the evidence of success.

Why it happens

The online API consumes one feature dictionary per observation; handing it a matrix or a frame shape it does not expect fails at the first call.

Variant phrasings

learn_many expects a dictionary of features

The verbatim form searchers paste from the terminal or console. Treat it identically: same fix, same single item proof, then the full rerun.

How to fix: River anomaly detector failed error "learn_many expects a dictionary of features"

The how-to phrasing for the same failure in River. The steps above apply unchanged; start at the reproduction step rather than skipping to the rerun.

River troubleshooting for this failure

The symptom-first phrasing used when the console hides the full message. Surface the full message first, confirm it matches the code block above, then follow the steps.

Compatibility: River at current versions, plus the platform API or console the query names; no extra tooling beyond a text editor and the source system access needed to verify counts.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_rr8fVC-PHyOVd-YB2jTQFQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_rr8fVC-PHyOVd-YB2jTQFQ

Thread query: River anomaly detector failed error "learn_many expects a dictionary of features"

TL;DR: Fix this in River by acting on the exact message first: reshape each row into a dictionary mapping feature names to values and pass a list of those dictionaries, keeping numeric types as numbers. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one item, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.