diff --git a/backend/config.py b/backend/config.py
index 711a43aa2..3453ee24b 100644
--- a/backend/config.py
+++ b/backend/config.py
@@ -1055,7 +1055,7 @@ RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL_TRUST_REMOTE_CODE = (
 RAG_EMBEDDING_OPENAI_BATCH_SIZE = PersistentConfig(
     "RAG_EMBEDDING_OPENAI_BATCH_SIZE",
     "rag.embedding_openai_batch_size",
-    os.environ.get("RAG_EMBEDDING_OPENAI_BATCH_SIZE", 1),
+    int(os.environ.get("RAG_EMBEDDING_OPENAI_BATCH_SIZE", "1")),
 )
 
 RAG_RERANKING_MODEL = PersistentConfig(