diff --git a/nodejs/__test__/embedding.test.ts b/nodejs/__test__/embedding.test.ts
index e56e80631..0133905dc 100644
--- a/nodejs/__test__/embedding.test.ts
+++ b/nodejs/__test__/embedding.test.ts
@@ -184,6 +184,49 @@ describe("embedding functions", () => {
     const vector0 = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(arr[0].vector));
     expect(vector0).toEqual([1, 2, 3]);
   });
+  it("should append using embedding metadata created by Python", async () => {
+    @register("python-mock")
+    // biome-ignore lint/correctness/noUnusedVariables: the decorator registers this class
+    class MockEmbeddingFunction extends EmbeddingFunction<string> {
+      ndims() {
+        return 3;
+      }
+      embeddingDataType(): Float {
+        return new Float32();
+      }
+      async computeQueryEmbeddings(_data: string) {
+        return [1, 2, 3];
+      }
+      async computeSourceEmbeddings(data: string[]) {
+        return data.map(() => [1, 2, 3]);
+      }
+    }
+
+    const metadata = new Map([
+      [
+        "embedding_functions",
+        '[{"source_column":"text","vector_column":"vector","name":"python-mock","model":{}}]',
+      ],
+    ]);
+    const schema = new Schema(
+      [
+        new Field("text", new Utf8(), true),
+        new Field(
+          "vector",
+          new FixedSizeList(3, new Field("item", new Float32(), true)),
+          true,
+        ),
+      ],
+      metadata,
+    );
+
+    const db = await connect(tmpDir.name);
+    const table = await db.createEmptyTable("test", schema);
+    await table.add([{ text: "hello world" }]);
+
+    const rows = await table.query().toArray();
+    expect(JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(rows[0].vector))).toEqual([1, 2, 3]);
+  });
   it("should error when appending to a table with an unregistered embedding function", async () => {
     @register("mock")
     class MockEmbeddingFunction extends EmbeddingFunction<string> {
diff --git a/nodejs/lancedb/arrow.ts b/nodejs/lancedb/arrow.ts
index 587d30b19..3cb2068ab 100644
--- a/nodejs/lancedb/arrow.ts
+++ b/nodejs/lancedb/arrow.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ import {
 } from "apache-arrow";
 import { Buffers } from "apache-arrow/data";
 import { type EmbeddingFunction } from "./embedding/embedding_function";
+import { parseEmbeddingFunctionMetadata } from "./embedding/metadata";
 import { EmbeddingFunctionConfig, getRegistry } from "./embedding/registry";
 import {
   sanitizeField,
@@ -1385,11 +1386,13 @@ function validateSchemaEmbeddings(
 
         // Check schema metadata for embedding functions
         if (schema.metadata.has("embedding_functions")) {
-          const embeddings = JSON.parse(
-            schema.metadata.get("embedding_functions")!,
-          );
-          // biome-ignore lint/suspicious/noExplicitAny: we don't know the type of `f`
-          if (embeddings.find((f: any) => f["vectorColumn"] === field.name)) {
+          const embeddings = parseEmbeddingFunctionMetadata(schema.metadata);
+          if (
+            embeddings.find(
+              (embedding) =>
+                (embedding.vectorColumn ?? "vector") === field.name,
+            )
+          ) {
             hasEmbeddingFunction = true;
           }
         }
diff --git a/nodejs/lancedb/embedding/metadata.ts b/nodejs/lancedb/embedding/metadata.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9dbac55e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nodejs/lancedb/embedding/metadata.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The LanceDB Authors
+
+import type { EmbeddingFunction } from "./embedding_function";
+
+interface SerializedEmbeddingFunction {
+  name: string;
+  model: EmbeddingFunction["TOptions"];
+  sourceColumn?: string;
+  vectorColumn?: string;
+  [key: string]: unknown;
+}
+
+export interface EmbeddingFunctionMetadata {
+  name: string;
+  model: EmbeddingFunction["TOptions"];
+  sourceColumn: string;
+  vectorColumn?: string;
+}
+
+export function parseEmbeddingFunctionMetadata(
+  metadata: Map<string, string>,
+): EmbeddingFunctionMetadata[] {
+  const serialized = metadata.get("embedding_functions");
+  if (serialized === undefined) {
+    return [];
+  }
+
+  return (JSON.parse(serialized) as SerializedEmbeddingFunction[]).map(
+    (functionMetadata) => {
+      const sourceColumn =
+        functionMetadata.sourceColumn ??
+        (functionMetadata["source_column"] as string | undefined);
+      if (sourceColumn === undefined) {
+        throw new Error(
+          "Embedding function metadata is missing a source column",
+        );
+      }
+
+      return {
+        name: functionMetadata.name,
+        model: functionMetadata.model,
+        sourceColumn,
+        vectorColumn:
+          functionMetadata.vectorColumn ??
+          (functionMetadata["vector_column"] as string | undefined),
+      };
+    },
+  );
+}
diff --git a/nodejs/lancedb/embedding/registry.ts b/nodejs/lancedb/embedding/registry.ts
index 2eae90ed3..d17613805 100644
--- a/nodejs/lancedb/embedding/registry.ts
+++ b/nodejs/lancedb/embedding/registry.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import {
   type EmbeddingFunction,
   type EmbeddingFunctionConstructor,
 } from "./embedding_function";
+import { parseEmbeddingFunctionMetadata } from "./metadata";
 import "reflect-metadata";
 
 export type CreateReturnType<T> = T extends { init: () => Promise<void> }
@@ -105,20 +106,10 @@ export class EmbeddingFunctionRegistry {
     this: EmbeddingFunctionRegistry,
     metadata: Map<string, string>,
   ): Promise<Map<string, EmbeddingFunctionConfig>> {
-    if (!metadata.has("embedding_functions")) {
+    const functions = parseEmbeddingFunctionMetadata(metadata);
+    if (functions.length === 0) {
       return new Map();
     } else {
-      type FunctionConfig = {
-        name: string;
-        sourceColumn: string;
-        vectorColumn: string;
-        model: EmbeddingFunction["TOptions"];
-      };
-
-      const functions = <FunctionConfig[]>(
-        JSON.parse(metadata.get("embedding_functions")!)
-      );
-
       const items: [string, EmbeddingFunctionConfig][] = await Promise.all(
         functions.map(async (f) => {
           const fn = this.get(f.name);