chroma-core/chroma · error · ChromaValueError

Missing API key. Please provide it to the CloudClient constr

Error message

Missing API key. Please provide it to the CloudClient constructor or set your CHROMA_API_KEY environment variable

What it means

Error "Missing API key. Please provide it to the CloudClient constructor or set your CHROMA_API_KEY environment variable" thrown in chroma-core/chroma.

Source

Thrown at clients/new-js/packages/chromadb/src/cloud-client.ts:33

  constructor(
    args: Partial<{
      /** API key for authentication (or set CHROMA_API_KEY env var) */
      apiKey?: string;
      /** Host address of the Chroma cloud server. Defaults to 'api.trychroma.com' */
      host?: string;
      /** Port number of the Chroma cloud server. Defaults to 443 */
      port?: number;
      /** Tenant name for multi-tenant deployments */
      tenant?: string;
      /** Database name to connect to */
      database?: string;
      /** Additional fetch options for HTTP requests */
      fetchOptions?: RequestInit;
    }> = {},
  ) {
    const apiKey = args.apiKey || process.env.CHROMA_API_KEY;
    if (!apiKey) {
      throw new ChromaValueError(
        "Missing API key. Please provide it to the CloudClient constructor or set your CHROMA_API_KEY environment variable",
      );
    }

    const tenant = args.tenant || process.env.CHROMA_TENANT;
    const database = args.database || process.env.CHROMA_DATABASE;

    super({
      host: args.host || "api.trychroma.com",
      port: args.port || 443,
      ssl: true,
      tenant,
      database,
      headers: { "x-chroma-token": apiKey },
      fetchOptions: args.fetchOptions,
    });

    // Override from ChromaClient construction in case undefined. This will trigger auto-resolution in the "path" function

View on GitHub (pinned to aecdd12c8a)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at clients/new-js/packages/chromadb/src/cloud-client.ts:33 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/b6cac3300283c7b9. Report an issue: GitHub.