MaartenGr / MaartenGr/BERTopic

Lightweight soft topic assignment via temperature-scaled embedding distances

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Dominant language
Python
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Description

### Feature request

Add a `soft_clustering_temp` parameter to `transform()` that computes soft topic distributions using temperature-scaled softmax on embedding distances to topic centroids:

```python
# Hard assignment (current default)
topics, probs = topic_model.transform(new_docs)

# Soft assignment with temperature scaling
topics, probs = topic_model.transform(new_docs, soft_clustering_temp=0.5)
# probs is now a (n_docs, n_topics) matrix of soft assignments
```

### Motivation

Getting soft (probabilistic) topic assignments currently requires either:

1. `calculate_probabilities=True` — expensive for large datasets and HDBSCAN-specific
2. `approximate_distribution()` — good but requires re-running the vectorizer

Users frequently ask about soft/overlapping topic assignments:
- [#1419](https://github.com/MaartenGr/BERTopic/issues/1419) — non-mutually exclusive topics
- [#2017](https://github.com/MaartenGr/BERTopic/issues/2017) — probability inconsistency
- [#1613](https://github.com/MaartenGr/BERTopic/issues/1613) — negative probabilities
- [#1808](https://github.com/MaartenGr/BERTopic/issues/1808) — probabilities NoneType
- [#1962](https://github.com/MaartenGr/BERTopic/issues/1962) — probabilities empty with zero-shot

The temperature-scaled approach is clustering-agnostic (works with any clustering model, not just HDBSCAN), lightweight (no vectorizer, no refit), and provides a smooth probability distribution over all topics.

### Your contribution

I can submit a PR that adds `soft_clustering_temp` to `transform()`. Low temperature → sharper (near-hard) assignments; high temperature → softer distributions. Default is `None` — existing behavior unchanged.

I've already been prototyping this in my fork (working implementation with tests). Since this adds a new parameter, I'd value your steer on the API (name, whether it lives on `transform()` or a dedicated method) before I open the PR.

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Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The requested entry point is transform(); start by locating its implementation and existing tests, then review how current topic assignments and probabilities are produced. Confirm the API and temperature behavior with maintainers before implementing; done means the default remains unchanged and the new option returns tested soft assignments across supported clustering models.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
machine-learning
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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