Chroma MCP

🚀 Chroma MCP Server

Chroma is an open - source embedded database designed to assist developers in quickly building large language model (LLM) applications with context - awareness capabilities. By integrating Chroma, you can easily add memory and knowledge base functions to your applications.

🚀 Quick Start

Chroma is an open - source embedded database aimed at helping developers rapidly build large language model (LLM) applications with context - awareness capabilities. By integrating Chroma, you can effortlessly add memory and knowledge base features to your applications.

Here are some usage examples:

💻 Usage Examples

Basic Usage

1. Installation and Configuration: Add the following configuration to the claude_desktop_config.json file to enable the Chroma client.

"chroma": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
        "chroma-mcp"
    ]
}

Advanced Usage

2. Persistent Client: If you want the data to be retained after the application restarts, you can configure it as a persistent client.

"chroma": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
        "chroma-mcp", 
        "--client-type", 
        "persistent", 
        "--data-dir", 
        "/full/path/to/your/data/directory"
    ]
}

3. Cloud Client: Connect to the Chroma cloud service.

"chroma": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
        "chroma-mcp", 
        "--client-type", 
        "cloud", 
        "--tenant", 
        "your-tenant-id", 
        "--database", 
        "your-database-name", 
        "--api-key", 
        "your-api-key"
    ]
}

4. Self - hosted Client: Connect to your self - hosted Chroma instance.

"chroma": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
        "chroma-mcp", 
        "--client-type", 
        "http", 
        "--host", 
        "your-host", 
        "--port", 
        "your-port", 
        "--custom-auth-credentials", 
        "your-custom-auth-credentials", 
        "--ssl", 
        "true"
    ]
}

📚 Documentation

Environment Variable Configuration

You can also configure the Chroma client through environment variables. The server will automatically load the .env file at the specified path or system environment variables. Command - line arguments have the highest priority.

Commonly Used Environment Variables

# Set the client type
export CHROMA_CLIENT_TYPE="http"  # Or "cloud", "persistent", "ephemeral"

# Persistent client configuration
export CHROMA_DATA_DIR="/full/path/to/your/data/directory"

# Cloud client configuration
export CHROMA_TENANT="your-tenant-id"
export CHROMA_DATABASE="your-database-name"
export CHROMA_API_KEY="your-api-key"

# Self - hosted client configuration
export CHROMA_HOST="your-host"
export CHROMA_PORT="your-port"
export CHROMA_CUSTOM_AUTH_CREDENTIALS="your-custom-auth-credentials"
export CHROMA_SSL="true"

# Specify the path of the .env file (default is .chroma_env in the current directory)
export CHROMA_DOTENV_PATH="/path/to/your/.env"

API Keys for Embedded Functions

For embedded functions that need to access external APIs, use the environment variable naming convention CHROMA_<Service Name>_API_KEY. For example:

• Cohere API key: Set it as CHROMA_COHERE_API_KEY="your-key"
• OpenAI API key: Set it as CHROMA_OPENAI_API_KEY="your-key"

It is recommended to store these sensitive information in a separate .env file and specify its location through the --dotenv-path parameter to ensure security.