diff --git a/src/user/user_util.cc b/src/user/user_util.cc
index b7bbc00e..b98516fc 100644
--- a/src/user/user_util.cc
+++ b/src/user/user_util.cc
@@ -1346,6 +1346,7 @@ template<> MJAPI std::vector<std::string> StringToVector(const std::string& s) {
 template MJAPI std::vector<int>    StringToVector(char* cs);
 template MJAPI std::vector<float>  StringToVector(char* cs);
 template MJAPI std::vector<double> StringToVector(char* cs);
+template MJAPI std::vector<unsigned char> StringToVector(char* cs);
 
 
 template <typename T> std::vector<T> StringToVector(const std::string& s) {
diff --git a/src/user/user_util.h b/src/user/user_util.h
index 6d17fb43..b2842d85 100644
--- a/src/user/user_util.h
+++ b/src/user/user_util.h
@@ -264,6 +264,7 @@ template<typename T> MJAPI std::string VectorToString(const std::vector<T>& v);
 // convert string to vector
 template<typename T> MJAPI std::vector<T> StringToVector(char *cs);
 template<typename T> MJAPI std::vector<T> StringToVector(const std::string& s);
+template<> MJAPI std::vector<std::string> StringToVector(const std::string& s);
 
 }  // namespace mujoco::user