chroma-core/chroma · error · ValueError

If name is specified, tenant and database must also be speci

Error message

If name is specified, tenant and database must also be specified in order to uniquely identify the collection

What it means

Error "If name is specified, tenant and database must also be specified in order to uniquely identify the collection" thrown in chroma-core/chroma.

Source

Thrown at chromadb/db/mixins/sysdb.py:468

                )

            return segments

    @trace_method("SqlSysDB.get_collections", OpenTelemetryGranularity.ALL)
    @override
    def get_collections(
        self,
        id: Optional[UUID] = None,
        name: Optional[str] = None,
        tenant: str = DEFAULT_TENANT,
        database: str = DEFAULT_DATABASE,
        limit: Optional[int] = None,
        offset: Optional[int] = None,
    ) -> Sequence[Collection]:
        """Get collections by name, embedding function and/or metadata"""

        if name is not None and (tenant is None or database is None):
            raise ValueError(
                "If name is specified, tenant and database must also be specified in order to uniquely identify the collection"
            )

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

        collections_t = Table("collections")
        metadata_t = Table("collection_metadata")
        databases_t = Table("databases")
        q = (
            self.querybuilder()
            .from_(collections_t)
            .select(
                collections_t.id,

View on GitHub (pinned to aecdd12c8a)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at chromadb/db/mixins/sysdb.py:468 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/e61bc4f2fc2219ce. Report an issue: GitHub.