Configuration

Overview

Chroma provides extensive configuration options through the Settings class, environment variables, and YAML configuration files. This guide covers all configuration options available for both server and client deployments.

Configuration Methods

Chroma can be configured in three ways:

Environment variables - Set via .env file or system environment
Settings class - Pass directly when creating a client
YAML configuration - For advanced deployments

Using Environment Variables

Create a .env file in your working directory:

# .env file
CHROMA_SERVER_HOST=localhost
CHROMA_SERVER_HTTP_PORT=8000
IS_PERSISTENT=True
PERSIST_DIRECTORY=./chroma_data
ALLOW_RESET=False

Chroma automatically loads the .env file using UTF-8 encoding.

Using Settings Class

Pass configuration directly when creating a client:

import chromadb
from chromadb.config import Settings

client = chromadb.Client(Settings(
    chroma_api_impl="chromadb.api.rust.RustBindingsAPI",
    is_persistent=True,
    persist_directory="./chroma_data",
    anonymized_telemetry=False
))

Configuration Options

Generic Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`environment`	`str`	`""`	Environment name for deployment tracking
`chroma_api_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.api.rust.RustBindingsAPI"`	API implementation to use. Options: `chromadb.api.rust.RustBindingsAPI`, `chromadb.api.segment.SegmentAPI`, `chromadb.api.fastapi.FastAPI`
`chroma_server_nofile`	`int`	`None`	Maximum number of open file descriptors (Unix only)
`chroma_server_thread_pool_size`	`int`	`40`	Thread pool size for synchronous FastAPI tasks

Client Mode Settings

For connecting to a remote Chroma server:

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`chroma_server_host`	`str`	`None`	Hostname of the Chroma server
`chroma_server_http_port`	`int`	`None`	HTTP port of the Chroma server
`chroma_server_ssl_enabled`	`bool`	`False`	Enable SSL/TLS for server connections
`chroma_server_ssl_verify`	`bool\|str`	`None`	SSL certificate verification. Can be `True`, `False`, or path to CA bundle
`chroma_server_headers`	`Dict[str, str]`	`None`	Additional HTTP headers to send with requests
`chroma_server_api_default_path`	`APIVersion`	`APIVersion.V2`	Default API version path (`/api/v1` or `/api/v2`)
`chroma_server_cors_allow_origins`	`List[str]`	`[]`	CORS allowed origins (e.g., `["http://localhost:8000"]`)
`chroma_http_keepalive_secs`	`float`	`40.0`	HTTP keepalive timeout in seconds
`chroma_http_max_connections`	`int`	`None`	Maximum number of HTTP connections
`chroma_http_max_keepalive_connections`	`int`	`None`	Maximum number of keepalive connections

Server Mode Settings

For embedded or server deployments:

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`is_persistent`	`bool`	`False`	Enable persistent storage
`persist_directory`	`str`	`"./chroma"`	Directory for persistent data
`chroma_memory_limit_bytes`	`int`	`0`	Memory limit in bytes (0 = unlimited)
`chroma_segment_cache_policy`	`str`	`None`	Cache policy for segments. Only `"LRU"` is supported
`allow_reset`	`bool`	`False`	Allow database reset operations (enable only in development)

Authentication Settings

Client Authentication

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`chroma_client_auth_provider`	`str`	`None`	Client auth provider implementation
`chroma_client_auth_credentials`	`str`	`None`	Credentials for client authentication
`chroma_auth_token_transport_header`	`str`	`None`	Header name for auth token (default: `"Authorization"`)

Server Authentication

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`chroma_server_authn_provider`	`str`	`None`	Server authentication provider
`chroma_server_authn_credentials`	`str`	`None`	Authentication credentials (mutually exclusive with `credentials_file`)
`chroma_server_authn_credentials_file`	`str`	`None`	Path to credentials file
`chroma_server_authz_provider`	`str`	`None`	Server authorization provider
`chroma_server_authz_config`	`str`	`None`	Authorization config (mutually exclusive with `config_file`)
`chroma_server_authz_config_file`	`str`	`None`	Path to authorization config file
`chroma_overwrite_singleton_tenant_database_access_from_auth`	`bool`	`False`	Override tenant/database access from auth provider

Telemetry Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`anonymized_telemetry`	`bool`	`True`	Send anonymous usage telemetry
`chroma_product_telemetry_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.telemetry.product.posthog.Posthog"`	Product telemetry implementation
`chroma_otel_collection_endpoint`	`str`	`""`	OpenTelemetry collection endpoint
`chroma_otel_service_name`	`str`	`"chromadb"`	Service name for OpenTelemetry
`chroma_otel_collection_headers`	`Dict[str, str]`	`{}`	Headers for OpenTelemetry collector
`chroma_otel_granularity`	`str`	`None`	Tracing granularity: `"none"`, `"operation"`, `"operation_and_segment"`, `"all"`

See Observability for more details.

Migration Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`migrations`	`Literal["none", "validate", "apply"]`	`"apply"`	Migration mode: `none` (skip), `validate` (check only), `apply` (auto-apply)
`migrations_hash_algorithm`	`Literal["md5", "sha256"]`	`"md5"`	Hash algorithm for migration verification (set once, cannot change)

See Migrations for more details.

Distributed Chroma Settings

For distributed/production deployments:

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`chroma_coordinator_host`	`str`	`"localhost"`	Coordinator service hostname
`chroma_server_grpc_port`	`int`	`None`	gRPC port for system database
`chroma_sysdb_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.db.impl.sqlite.SqliteDB"`	System database implementation
`chroma_producer_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.db.impl.sqlite.SqliteDB"`	Producer implementation
`chroma_consumer_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.db.impl.sqlite.SqliteDB"`	Consumer implementation
`chroma_segment_manager_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.segment.impl.manager.local.LocalSegmentManager"`	Segment manager implementation
`chroma_segment_directory_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.segment.impl.distributed.segment_directory.RendezvousHashSegmentDirectory"`	Segment directory implementation
`chroma_segment_directory_routing_mode`	`RoutingMode`	`RoutingMode.ID`	Routing mode: `node` or `id`
`chroma_memberlist_provider_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.segment.impl.distributed.segment_directory.CustomResourceMemberlistProvider"`	Memberlist provider for distributed routing
`chroma_executor_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.execution.executor.local.LocalExecutor"`	Query executor implementation
`chroma_query_replication_factor`	`int`	`2`	Replication factor for queries
`chroma_logservice_host`	`str`	`"localhost"`	Log service hostname
`chroma_logservice_port`	`int`	`50052`	Log service port
`worker_memberlist_name`	`str`	`"query-service-memberlist"`	Name of worker memberlist

Rate Limiting & Quotas

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`chroma_quota_provider_impl`	`str`	`None`	Quota provider implementation
`chroma_quota_enforcer_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.quota.simple_quota_enforcer.SimpleQuotaEnforcer"`	Quota enforcer implementation
`chroma_rate_limiting_provider_impl`	`str`	`None`	Rate limiting provider implementation
`chroma_rate_limit_enforcer_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.rate_limit.simple_rate_limit.SimpleRateLimitEnforcer"`	Rate limit enforcer implementation
`chroma_async_rate_limit_enforcer_impl`	`str`	`"chromadb.rate_limit.simple_rate_limit.SimpleAsyncRateLimitEnforcer"`	Async rate limit enforcer

gRPC Timeouts

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`chroma_logservice_request_timeout_seconds`	`int`	`3`	Log service request timeout
`chroma_sysdb_request_timeout_seconds`	`int`	`3`	System database request timeout
`chroma_query_request_timeout_seconds`	`int`	`60`	Query request timeout

Example Configurations

Development Setup (In-Memory)

from chromadb.config import Settings
import chromadb

client = chromadb.Client(Settings(
    chroma_api_impl="chromadb.api.rust.RustBindingsAPI",
    is_persistent=False,
    allow_reset=True,
    anonymized_telemetry=False
))

Local Persistent Storage

from chromadb.config import Settings
import chromadb

client = chromadb.Client(Settings(
    chroma_api_impl="chromadb.api.rust.RustBindingsAPI",
    is_persistent=True,
    persist_directory="./my_chroma_data",
    allow_reset=False
))

Remote Server Connection

from chromadb.config import Settings
import chromadb

client = chromadb.HttpClient(
    host="chroma.example.com",
    port=8000,
    ssl=True,
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"}
)

Production Server with Authentication

# .env file
CHROMA_SERVER_AUTHN_PROVIDER=chromadb.auth.token.TokenAuthenticationServerProvider
CHROMA_SERVER_AUTHN_CREDENTIALS_FILE=/path/to/credentials.json
CHROMA_SERVER_AUTHZ_PROVIDER=chromadb.auth.simple.SimpleAuthorizationProvider
CHROMA_SERVER_AUTHZ_CONFIG_FILE=/path/to/authz_config.yaml
IS_PERSISTENT=True
PERSIST_DIRECTORY=/var/lib/chroma
ALLOW_RESET=False
CHROMA_SERVER_NOFILE=65536

YAML Configuration

While Chroma primarily uses environment variables, you can also use YAML for complex configurations:

# config.yaml
chroma_api_impl: chromadb.api.rust.RustBindingsAPI
is_persistent: true
persist_directory: ./chroma_data
allow_reset: false

# Server settings
chroma_server_host: localhost
chroma_server_http_port: 8000
chroma_server_ssl_enabled: false

# Memory and caching
chroma_memory_limit_bytes: 1073741824  # 1GB
chroma_segment_cache_policy: LRU

# OpenTelemetry
chroma_otel_collection_endpoint: http://otel-collector:4317
chroma_otel_service_name: chroma-production
chroma_otel_granularity: operation

# Migrations
migrations: apply
migrations_hash_algorithm: sha256

Load the configuration:

import yaml
from chromadb.config import Settings
import chromadb

with open("config.yaml") as f:
    config = yaml.safe_load(f)

client = chromadb.Client(Settings(**config))

Validation and Errors

Required Settings

Some settings are required depending on your deployment mode. Use the require() method to validate:

from chromadb.config import Settings

settings = Settings()
# Raises ValueError if not set
persist_dir = settings.require("persist_directory")

Legacy Configuration Error

Chroma will raise an error if you try to use deprecated configuration values:

# This will raise an error:
settings = Settings(chroma_db_impl="duckdb+parquet")
# Error: "You are using a deprecated configuration of Chroma..."

See the Migration Guide for upgrading from legacy configurations.

Environment-Specific Configuration

Manage different configurations per environment:

# .env.development
ALLOW_RESET=True
ANONYMIZED_TELEMETRY=False
CHROMA_OTEL_GRANULARITY=all

# .env.production
ALLOW_RESET=False
ANONYMIZED_TELEMETRY=True
CHROMA_OTEL_GRANULARITY=operation
CHROMA_SERVER_AUTHN_PROVIDER=chromadb.auth.token.TokenAuthenticationServerProvider

Load based on environment:

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from chromadb.config import Settings
import chromadb

env = os.getenv("ENV", "development")
load_dotenv(f".env.{env}")

client = chromadb.Client(Settings())

Best Practices

Never commit secrets - Use environment variables or secret management systems for credentials
Disable reset in production - Set allow_reset=False to prevent accidental data loss
Enable SSL for remote connections - Always use chroma_server_ssl_enabled=True in production
Monitor memory usage - Set chroma_memory_limit_bytes based on your system capacity
Choose appropriate telemetry granularity - Use "operation" for production, "all" only for debugging
Use persistent storage - Set is_persistent=True for any non-ephemeral use cases
Configure file descriptors - Increase chroma_server_nofile for high-concurrency deployments

Next Steps

Learn about Observability configuration
Understand Performance Tuning
Set up Schema Migrations

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Deployment

Operations

Overview

Configuration Methods

Using Environment Variables

Using Settings Class

Configuration Options

Generic Settings

Client Mode Settings

Server Mode Settings

Authentication Settings

Client Authentication

Server Authentication

Telemetry Settings

Migration Settings

Distributed Chroma Settings

Rate Limiting & Quotas

gRPC Timeouts

Example Configurations

Development Setup (In-Memory)

Local Persistent Storage

Remote Server Connection

Production Server with Authentication

YAML Configuration

Validation and Errors

Required Settings

Legacy Configuration Error

Environment-Specific Configuration

Best Practices

Next Steps

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Deployment

Operations

​Overview

​Configuration Methods

​Using Environment Variables

​Using Settings Class

​Configuration Options

​Generic Settings

​Client Mode Settings

​Server Mode Settings

​Authentication Settings

​Client Authentication

​Server Authentication

​Telemetry Settings

​Migration Settings

​Distributed Chroma Settings

​Rate Limiting & Quotas

​gRPC Timeouts

​Example Configurations

​Development Setup (In-Memory)

​Local Persistent Storage

​Remote Server Connection

​Production Server with Authentication

​YAML Configuration

​Validation and Errors

​Required Settings

​Legacy Configuration Error

​Environment-Specific Configuration

​Best Practices

​Next Steps

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Configuration Methods

Using Environment Variables

Using Settings Class

Configuration Options

Generic Settings

Client Mode Settings

Server Mode Settings

Authentication Settings

Client Authentication

Server Authentication

Telemetry Settings

Migration Settings

Distributed Chroma Settings

Rate Limiting & Quotas

gRPC Timeouts

Example Configurations

Development Setup (In-Memory)

Local Persistent Storage

Remote Server Connection

Production Server with Authentication

YAML Configuration

Validation and Errors

Required Settings

Legacy Configuration Error

Environment-Specific Configuration

Best Practices

Next Steps