MemPalace/mempalace · error · TypeError

palace= must be a PalaceRef instance

Error message

palace= must be a PalaceRef instance

What it means

A TypeError from get_collection's argument normalizer: palace= was passed but the value is not a PalaceRef instance. The qdrant backend requires a real PalaceRef (with id and local_path) when using the keyword form; strings are only accepted via the positional palace_path form.

Source

Thrown at mempalace/backends/qdrant.py:1384

            raise CollectionNotInitializedError(collection_name)
        collection = QdrantCollection(
            backend=self,
            client=client,
            config=config,
            palace=palace,
            collection_name=collection_name,
            remote_collection=remote_collection,
        )
        with self._lock:
            self._collections_by_palace.setdefault(palace.id, []).append(collection)
        return collection

    @staticmethod
    def _normalize_args(args, kwargs):
        if "palace" in kwargs:
            palace = kwargs.pop("palace")
            if not isinstance(palace, PalaceRef):
                raise TypeError("palace= must be a PalaceRef instance")
            collection_name = kwargs.pop("collection_name")
            create = bool(kwargs.pop("create", False))
            options = kwargs.pop("options", None)
            if args or kwargs:
                raise TypeError("unexpected arguments to get_collection")
            return palace, collection_name, create, options
        if args:
            palace_path = args[0]
            rest = list(args[1:])
            collection_name = kwargs.pop("collection_name", None) or (rest.pop(0) if rest else None)
            if collection_name is None:
                raise TypeError("collection_name is required")
            create = kwargs.pop("create", False)
            if rest:
                create = rest.pop(0)
            options = kwargs.pop("options", None)
            if rest or kwargs:
                raise TypeError("unexpected arguments to get_collection")

View on GitHub (pinned to 06cb6987f0)

Solutions

1. Wrap the value: PalaceRef(id=path, local_path=path) and pass palace=PalaceRef(...)
2. Or use the positional form: get_collection("/path/to/palace", "collection")
3. In tests, construct real PalaceRef instances instead of stand-ins

Example fix

# before
backend.get_collection(palace="/data/palace", collection_name="drawers")
# after
ref = PalaceRef(id="/data/palace", local_path="/data/palace")
backend.get_collection(palace=ref, collection_name="drawers")

if not isinstance(palace, PalaceRef):
    palace = PalaceRef(id=str(palace), local_path=str(palace))

from mempalace.backends.base import PalaceRef

def is_palace_ref(v) -> bool:
    """Narrow v to a PalaceRef suitable for palace=."""
    return isinstance(v, PalaceRef) and v.local_path is not None

When it happens

Trigger: get_collection(palace="/path/to/palace", collection_name="x") — passing a path string to palace= instead of a PalaceRef; or passing a dict/Mock/other object in tests.

Common situations: Porting call sites from a path-based API to the PalaceRef API; test doubles that substitute plain objects for PalaceRef; passing a dataclass that quacks like PalaceRef but isn't.

Related errors

• unexpected arguments to get_collection
• collection_name is required
• get_collection requires palace= or a positional palace_path
• qdrant requires explicit embeddings
• add ids must be unique

AI-assisted analysis of MemPalace/mempalace@06cb6987f0 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/716e0ccb76778732. Report an issue: GitHub.