chroma-core/chroma · error · ChromaValueError

${item} is not allowed for this operation

Error message

${item} is not allowed for this operation

What it means

validateInclude takes an optional exclude list, and collection.get() calls it with exclude: ['distances'] (collection.ts:809) because similarity distances only exist for vector queries. Requesting 'distances' in a get() therefore throws '`distances` is not allowed for this operation' (utils.ts:741-743). query() passes no exclude, so all five include values are legal there.

Source

Thrown at clients/new-js/packages/chromadb/src/utils.ts:742

    throw new ChromaValueError("Expected 'include' to be a non-empty array");
  }

  const validValues = Object.keys(IncludeEnum);
  include.forEach((item) => {
    if (typeof (item as any) !== "string") {
      throw new ChromaValueError("Expected 'include' items to be strings");
    }

    if (!validValues.includes(item)) {
      throw new ChromaValueError(
        `Expected 'include' items to be one of ${validValues.join(
          ", ",
        )}, but got ${item}`,
      );
    }

    if (exclude?.includes(item)) {
      throw new ChromaValueError(`${item} is not allowed for this operation`);
    }
  });
};

/**
 * Validates the number of results parameter for queries.
 * @param nResults - Number of results to validate
 * @throws ChromaValueError if nResults is not a positive number
 */
export const validateNResults = (nResults: number) => {
  if (typeof (nResults as any) !== "number") {
    throw new ChromaValueError(
      `Expected 'nResults' to be a number, but got ${typeof nResults}`,
    );
  }

  if (nResults <= 0) {
    throw new ChromaValueError("Number of requested results has to positive");

View on GitHub (pinned to aecdd12c8a)

Solutions

1. Remove 'distances' from include when calling get()
2. Use collection.query() with queryTexts/queryEmbeddings when you need distances
3. Derive get's include from a shared list: sharedInclude.filter(f => f !== 'distances')

Example fix

// before
await col.get({ include: ['documents', 'metadatas', 'distances'] });

// after
await col.get({ include: ['documents', 'metadatas'] });
// distances are only available via col.query(...)

const ALL = ['documents', 'embeddings', 'metadatas', 'uris'];
const getInclude = wantsDistances => (wantsDistances ? [...ALL, 'distances'] : ALL);
// get(): getInclude(false) — never contains 'distances'
// query(): getInclude(true)

const isGetSafeInclude = (v: unknown): v is string[] =>
  Array.isArray(v) && v.every(i => i !== 'distances');

try {
  await col.get({ include });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('not allowed for this operation')) {
    await col.get({ include: include.filter(i => i !== 'distances') });
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: collection.get({ include: ['documents', 'distances'] }); a shared include constant reused by both a query() code path and a get() code path.

Common situations: A generic fetch helper that always requests every field; refactoring a query() call into get() without trimming the include list.

Related errors

• Expected 'include' to be a non-empty array
• Expected 'include' items to be strings
• Expected 'include' items to be one of ${validValues.join(",
• Expected metadata to be non-empty
• Expected metadata list value for key '${key}' to be non-empt

AI-assisted analysis of chroma-core/chroma@aecdd12c8a (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f7b216727986fc46. Report an issue: GitHub.