{"record":{"id":"433a6a00ec82b24f","repo":"chroma-core/chroma","slug":"cannot-embed-string-query-for-key-key-schema","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"Cannot embed string query for key '${key}': schema is not available. Provide an embedded vector or configure an embedding function.","messagePattern":"Cannot embed string query for key '(.+?)': schema is not available\\. Provide an embedded vector or configure an embedding function\\.","errorType":"validation","errorClass":"ChromaValueError","httpStatus":null,"severity":"error","filePath":"clients/new-js/packages/chromadb/src/collection.ts","lineNumber":653,"sourceCode":"      return { ...knn };\n    }\n\n    const keyValue = knn.key as unknown;\n    const key = typeof keyValue === \"string\" ? keyValue : EMBEDDING_KEY;\n\n    if (key === EMBEDDING_KEY) {\n      const embeddings = await this.embed([queryValue], true);\n      if (!embeddings || embeddings.length !== 1) {\n        throw new ChromaValueError(\n          \"Embedding function returned unexpected number of embeddings.\",\n        );\n      }\n      return { ...knn, query: embeddings[0] };\n    }\n\n    const schema = this._schema;\n    if (!schema) {\n      throw new ChromaValueError(\n        `Cannot embed string query for key '${key}': schema is not available. Provide an embedded vector or configure an embedding function.`,\n      );\n    }\n\n    const valueTypes = schema.keys[key];\n    if (!valueTypes) {\n      throw new ChromaValueError(\n        `Cannot embed string query for key '${key}': key not found in schema. Provide an embedded vector or configure an embedding function.`,\n      );\n    }\n\n    const sparseIndex = valueTypes.sparseVector?.sparseVectorIndex;\n    if (sparseIndex?.enabled && sparseIndex.config.embeddingFunction) {\n      const sparseEmbeddingFunction = sparseIndex.config.embeddingFunction;\n      const sparseEmbeddings = await this.sparseEmbed(\n        sparseEmbeddingFunction,\n        [queryValue],\n        true,","sourceCodeStart":635,"sourceCodeEnd":671,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/chroma-core/chroma/blob/aecdd12c8a891610db8653630b066b32ceb678b5/clients/new-js/packages/chromadb/src/collection.ts#L635-L671","documentation":"Error \"Cannot embed string query for key '${key}': schema is not available. Provide an embedded vector or configure an embedding function.\" thrown in chroma-core/chroma.","triggerScenarios":"Thrown at clients/new-js/packages/chromadb/src/collection.ts:653 when the library encounters an invalid state.","commonSituations":"See trigger scenarios.","solutions":[],"exampleFix":null,"handlingStrategy":null,"validationCode":null,"typeGuard":null,"tryCatchPattern":null,"preventionTips":[],"tags":[],"backgroundTag":null,"analyzedSha":"aecdd12c8a891610db8653630b066b32ceb678b5","analyzedAt":"2026-08-16T21:53:27.228Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-08-16T23:17:17.608Z"}