chroma-core/chroma · error · ValueError

id must be specified if get_or_create is False

Error message

id must be specified if get_or_create is False

What it means

Error "id must be specified if get_or_create is False" thrown in chroma-core/chroma.

Source

Thrown at chromadb/db/mixins/sysdb.py:292

            self.create_segment_with_tx(cur, segment)

    @trace_method("SqlSysDB.create_collection", OpenTelemetryGranularity.ALL)
    @override
    def create_collection(
        self,
        id: UUID,
        name: str,
        schema: Optional[Schema],
        configuration: CreateCollectionConfiguration,
        segments: Sequence[Segment],
        metadata: Optional[Metadata] = None,
        dimension: Optional[int] = None,
        get_or_create: bool = False,
        tenant: str = DEFAULT_TENANT,
        database: str = DEFAULT_DATABASE,
    ) -> Tuple[Collection, bool]:
        if id is None and not get_or_create:
            raise ValueError("id must be specified if get_or_create is False")

        add_attributes_to_current_span(
            {
                "collection_id": str(id),
                "collection_name": name,
            }
        )

        existing = self.get_collections(name=name, tenant=tenant, database=database)
        if existing:
            if get_or_create:
                collection = existing[0]
                return (
                    self.get_collections(
                        id=collection.id, tenant=tenant, database=database
                    )[0],
                    False,
                )

View on GitHub (pinned to aecdd12c8a)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at chromadb/db/mixins/sysdb.py:292 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/ef6451f6c7441f8d. Report an issue: GitHub.