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This is a collection of small guides and recipes to help you get started with Chroma.

Latest ChromaDB version: 1.5.2

API Changelog (1.5.2, 1.5.1, and 1.5.0)

Version 1.5.2 (February 27, 2026)

Area API-facing change Reference
Python Client Added Client.close() and context manager support (with syntax) #6373
Embedding Functions Added Perplexity embedding function support (Pplx EF) #6511

Version 1.5.1 (February 19, 2026)

Area API-facing change Reference
Advanced Search Removed beta label from Advanced Search API #6396
Collections Reject fork_collection for multi-region databases #6400
Schema / FTS Added option to disable FTS in schema #6214

Version 1.5.0 (February 9, 2026)

Area API-facing change Reference
Search Exported search options parameter #6160
Collections Rust sysdb impl for get collections #6146
Collections Rust sysdb impl for get collection with segments #6147
Collections Rust sysdb impl for update collection #6163
Schema Added option to enable quantization in schema #6295

New and Noteworthy

  • 🧨 Local Markdown CLI with Go PersistentClient - New end-to-end local-first CLI example (index + search) using chroma-go with default_ef, markdown chunking, and metadata filter DSL (env:prod) - 📅05-Mar-2026
  • 🖼️ Image Search - Added a multimodal retrieval walkthrough with a full runnable Python example for text-to-image and image-to-image search using OpenCLIP - 📅26-Feb-2026
  • 🔎 Keyword Search - Expanded with Rust/Go guidance, regex ($regex/$not_regex) patterns, composition hints, and full runnable Python/TypeScript/Go/Rust examples - 📅26-Feb-2026
  • ✅ Metadata Schema Validation - Added app-layer metadata contract patterns with short snippets and runnable Python/TypeScript/Go/Rust examples - 📅26-Feb-2026
  • 🧩 Deployment Patterns - Added two practical deployment walkthroughs: embed Chroma directly in a Python app, or run it as a standalone server and connect with HttpClient - 📅24-Feb-2026
  • 📊 Resource Requirements - Added an interactive sizing calculator, clearer RAM formulas, and explicit disk caveats for large documents and FTS index overhead - 📅21-Feb-2026
  • 🚀 Running Chroma - Refreshed CLI/Docker/Compose/Minikube guidance, aligned Helm chart notes, and added collapsed optional YAML config examples - 📅20-Feb-2026
  • 🧭 Core Concepts - Reworked into General vs Power Users tracks, with interactive local/distributed execution diagrams and data-flow visuals - 📅19-Feb-2026
  • 🎯 Collections Query IDs - Documented query(..., ids=...) for restricting similarity search to specific records - 📅17-Feb-2026
  • 🔍 Filters - Added multi-language filter examples and $regex/$not_regex operators - 📅17-Feb-2026
  • 🔧 Installation - Updated package names and added Go/Rust install examples - 📅17-Feb-2026
  • ⚒️ Configuration - Added 1.0 docs for HNSW, SPANN index, and embedding functions - 📅17-Feb-2026
  • 📦 Clients - Added Cloud Client section and updated client examples - 📅17-Feb-2026
  • 📚 Collections - Updated to current APIs with multi-language examples - 📅17-Feb-2026
  • 🏷️ Array Metadata Filters - Chroma 1.5.0 adds support for array metadata with $contains/$not_contains operators - 📅17-Feb-2026
  • 🔑 Authentication in Chroma v1.0.x - Chroma 1.0.x does not support native Authentication, in this article we cover how to secure your Chroma 1.0.x instance - 📅28-May-2025

Getting Started

We suggest you first head to the Concepts section. It now has two tracks:

  • For General Users - tenancy, collections, metadata, embeddings, and cloud data-flow basics
  • For Power Users - local SQLite + HNSW path, distributed frontend dispatch path, and core internals

Once you're comfortable with the concepts, you can jump to the Installation section to install ChromaDB.

Core Topics:

  • Filters - Learn to filter data in ChromaDB using metadata and document filters
  • Resource Requirements - Understand the resource requirements for running ChromaDB
  • ✨Multi-Tenancy - Learn how to implement multi-tenancy in ChromaDB

Running ChromaDB

  • Deployment Patterns - Decide between embedded (PersistentClient) and standalone server (HttpClient) with copy/paste examples
  • CLI - Running ChromaDB via the CLI
  • Docker - Running ChromaDB in Docker
  • Docker Compose - Running ChromaDB in Docker Compose
  • Kubernetes - Running ChromaDB in Kubernetes (Minikube)

Integrations

  • ✨LangChain - Integrating ChromaDB with LangChain
  • ✨LlamaIndex - Integrating ChromaDB with LlamaIndex
  • ✨Ollama - Integrating ChromaDB with Ollama

The Ecosystem

Clients

Below is a list of available clients for ChromaDB.

User Interfaces

  • VectorAdmin (MintPlex Labs) - An open-source web-based admin interface for vector databases, including ChromaDB
  • ChromaDB UI (Community maintained) - A web-based UI for ChromaDB
  • phpMyChroma (Community maintained) - A tiny PHP 8+ web client that allows you to browse Chroma and perform semantic search

CLI Tooling

  • Chroma CLI (Community maintained) - Early Alpha
  • Chroma Data Pipes (Community maintained) - A CLI tool for importing and exporting data from ChromaDB
  • Chroma Ops (Community maintained) - A maintenance CLI tool for ChromaDB

Strategies

  • Backup - Backing up ChromaDB data
  • Batch Imports - Importing data in batches
  • Multi-Tenancy - Running multiple ChromaDB instances
  • Go Local Markdown CLI - Build a local-only Go CLI with PersistentClient, default_ef, markdown chunking, and metadata-filtered search
  • Image Search - Multimodal retrieval with OpenCLIP (query_texts and query_uris) plus a runnable Python example
  • Keyword Search - Keyword and regex document filtering with concise snippets plus runnable Python/TypeScript/Go/Rust examples
  • Memory Management - Managing memory in ChromaDB
  • Metadata Schema Validation - Enforcing metadata contracts in your app layer (Pydantic/Zod/Go validator/Rust validator)
  • Time-based Queries - Querying data based on timestamps
  • ✨ Coming Soon Testing with Chroma - learn how to test your GenAI apps that include Chroma.
  • ✨ Coming Soon Monitoring Chroma - learn how to monitor your Chroma instance.
  • ✨ Coming Soon Building Chroma clients - learn how to build clients for Chroma.
  • ✨ Coming Soon Creating the perfect Embedding Function (wrapper) - learn the best practices for creating your own embedding function.
  • ✨ Multi-User Basic Auth Plugin - learn how to build a multi-user basic authentication plugin for Chroma.
  • ✨ CORS Configuration For JS Browser apps - learn how to configure CORS for Chroma.
  • ✨ Running Chroma with SystemD - learn how to start Chroma upon system boot.

Get Help

Missing something? Let us know by opening an issue, reach out on Discord (look for @taz), or message us on Twitter.