chroma-core/chroma · error · Error

Please install the voyageai package to use the VoyageAIEmbed

Error message

Please install the voyageai package to use the VoyageAIEmbeddingFunction, `npm install -S voyageai`

What it means

VoyageAIEmbeddingFunction.initClient() lazily does `await import('voyageai')` on the first generate(); if the rejection carries code MODULE_NOT_FOUND it rethrows as this friendly install hint, otherwise the original error propagates. Caveat: under Node ESM a missing package actually fails with ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND (a TypeError without .code === 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND'), so you may see the raw import error instead — same root cause, missing optional dependency.

Source

Thrown at clients/js/packages/chromadb-core/src/embeddings/VoyageAIEmbeddingFunction.ts:81

      );
    }
    this.apiKey = apiKey;
    this.model = model;
    this.apiKeyEnvVar = api_key_env_var;
  }

  private async initClient() {
    if (this.voyageAiApi) return;
    try {
      // @ts-ignore
      this.voyageAiApi = await import("voyageai").then((voyageai) => {
        // @ts-ignore
        return new VoyageAIAPI({ apiKey: this.apiKey });
      });
    } catch (e) {
      // @ts-ignore
      if (e.code === "MODULE_NOT_FOUND") {
        throw new Error(
          "Please install the voyageai package to use the VoyageAIEmbeddingFunction, `npm install -S voyageai`",
        );
      }
      throw e;
    }
  }

  public async generate(texts: string[]): Promise<number[][]> {
    await this.initClient();
    // @ts-ignore
    return await this.voyageAiApi.createEmbedding({
      model: this.model,
      input: texts,
    });
  }

  buildFromConfig(config: StoredConfig): VoyageAIEmbeddingFunction {
    return new VoyageAIEmbeddingFunction({

View on GitHub (pinned to aecdd12c8a)

Solutions

npm install voyageai (or yarn/pnpm equivalent) in the package that creates the embedding function.
Verify resolution in the failing runtime: node -e "import('voyageai').then(m => console.log(!!m.VoyageAIAPI)).catch(e => console.error(e.code || e.message))".
If you instead see ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND or a TypeError from import, it is the same missing-package cause — install it.
Rebuild CI/Docker caches after adding the dependency.

Example fix

# before
npm install chromadb
# VoyageAIEmbeddingFunction used -> first add() throws install hint

# after
npm install chromadb voyageai

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

try {
  await import("voyageai");
} catch {
  throw new Error("voyageai package missing. Run: npm install voyageai");
}

Prevention

Declare optional provider SDKs (voyageai, @xenova/transformers) explicitly in the consuming package's dependencies.
Add a startup preflight that imports each optional SDK your active embedding functions need.

When it happens

Trigger: First collection.add()/query() using VoyageAIEmbeddingFunction without `voyageai` in dependencies; package present in the workspace root but not resolvable from the package constructing the function; buildFromConfig restoring a voyageai-configured collection on a machine without the package.

Common situations: Following Chroma docs without installing the optional provider SDK; monorepo hoisting issues; CI cache built before the dependency was added.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of chroma-core/chroma@aecdd12c8a (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/df47655db43e6f56. Report an issue: GitHub.