chroma
Search infrastructure for AI
Documentation


Chroma - the open-source data infrastructure for AI.
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pip install chromadb # python client
# for javascript, npm install chromadb!
# for client-server mode, chroma run --path /chroma_db_pathChroma Cloud
Our hosted service, Chroma Cloud, powers serverless vector, hybrid, and full-text search. It's extremely fast, cost-effective, scalable and painless. Create a DB and try it out in under 30 seconds with $5 of free credits.
API
The core API is only 4 functions (run our ๐ก Google Colab):
import chromadb
# setup Chroma in-memory, for easy prototyping. Can add persistence easily!
client = chromadb.Client()
# Create collection. get_collection, get_or_create_collection, delete_collection also available!
collection = client.create_collection("all-my-documents")
# Add docs to the collection. Can also update and delete. Row-based API coming soon!
collection.add(
documents=["This is document1", "This is document2"], # we handle tokenization, embedding, and indexing automatically. You can skip that and add your own embeddings as well
metadatas=[{"source": "notion"}, {"source": "google-docs"}], # filter on these!
ids=["doc1", "doc2"], # unique for each doc
)
# Query/search 2 most similar results. You can also .get by id
results = collection.query(
query_texts=["This is a query document"],
n_results=2,
# where={"metadata_field": "is_equal_to_this"}, # optional filter
# where_document={"$contains":"search_string"} # optional filter
)Learn about all features on our Docs
Get involved
Chroma is a rapidly developing project. We welcome PR contributors and ideas for how to improve the project.
- Join the conversation on Discord - `#contributing` channel
- Review the ๐ฃ๏ธ Roadmap and contribute your ideas
- Grab an issue and open a PR - `Good first issue tag`
- Read our contributing guide
Release Cadence
We currently release new tagged versions of the `pypi` and `npm` packages on Mondays. Hotfixes go out at any time during the week.
License
Frequently asked questions
What is chroma?
chroma is Search infrastructure for AI
How do I install chroma?
Open the GitHub repository and follow its README. Most MCP servers are added to your client's MCP config, then called by your agent.
Is chroma open source?
Yes โ it is hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/chroma-core/chroma and has 29,215 stars.
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