MemPalace/mempalace · error · TypeError

unexpected arguments to get_collection

Error message

unexpected arguments to get_collection

What it means

A TypeError from get_collection's keyword-form argument parsing: after consuming palace=, collection_name=, create=, and options= from kwargs, there were leftover positional args or keyword arguments. The keyword form accepts exactly those four names and nothing else.

Source

Thrown at mempalace/backends/qdrant.py:1389

            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")
            return (
                PalaceRef(id=palace_path, local_path=palace_path),
                collection_name,
                bool(create),
                options,

View on GitHub (pinned to 06cb6987f0)

Solutions

1. Pass only palace=, collection_name=, create=, options= in the keyword form
2. Move the collection name into collection_name= instead of leaving it positional
3. Check the backend's get_collection signature for supported option names

Example fix

# before
backend.get_collection(palace=ref, "drawers", create=True)
# after
backend.get_collection(palace=ref, collection_name="drawers", create=True)

ALLOWED = {"palace", "collection_name", "create", "options"}
assert set(kwargs) <= ALLOWED and not args, f"bad get_collection kwargs: {set(kwargs) - ALLOWED}"

try:
    backend.get_collection(**kwargs)
except TypeError as e:
    if "unexpected arguments" in str(e):
        fix_kwargs(kwargs)  # strip unsupported keys, log them
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: get_collection(palace=ref, "drawers") (mixing a positional arg with the palace= keyword), or adding unknown kwargs like palace=ref, collection_name="x", timeout=30 / embedder=... .

Common situations: Copy-pasting call signatures from another backend with extra options; refactoring old positional calls by partially converting to keywords; IDE autocompleting a parameter that does not exist.

Related errors

• palace= must be a PalaceRef instance
• 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/b782c46d84ba8817. Report an issue: GitHub.