chroma-core/chroma · error · ValueError

Expected images to be a non-empty list, got {len(images)} im

Error message

Expected images to be a non-empty list, got {len(images)} images

What it means

Error "Expected images to be a non-empty list, got {len(images)} images" thrown in chroma-core/chroma.

Source

Thrown at chromadb/api/types.py:1463

        )
    if len(documents) == 0:
        raise ValueError(
            f"Expected documents to be a non-empty list, got {len(documents)} documents"
        )
    for document in documents:
        # If embeddings are present, some documents can be None
        if document is None and nullable:
            continue
        if not is_document(document):
            raise ValueError(f"Expected document to be a str, got {document}")


def validate_images(images: Images) -> None:
    """Validates images to ensure it is a list of numpy arrays"""
    if not isinstance(images, list):
        raise ValueError(f"Expected images to be a list, got {type(images).__name__}")
    if len(images) == 0:
        raise ValueError(
            f"Expected images to be a non-empty list, got {len(images)} images"
        )
    for image in images:
        if not is_image(image):
            raise ValueError(f"Expected image to be a numpy array, got {image}")


def validate_batch(
    batch: Tuple[
        IDs,
        Optional[Union[Embeddings, PyEmbeddings]],
        Optional[Metadatas],
        Optional[Documents],
        Optional[URIs],
    ],
    limits: Dict[str, Any],
) -> None:
    if len(batch[0]) > limits["max_batch_size"]:

View on GitHub (pinned to aecdd12c8a)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at chromadb/api/types.py:1463 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of chroma-core/chroma@aecdd12c8a (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0a82861b5e02c479. Report an issue: GitHub.