How to Install `chromadb` in Python

v1.5.7 General Purpose Python >=3.9

Chroma.

Install pip install chromadb

What is chromadb?

Chroma.

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The core API is only 4 functions (run our 💡 Google Colab):

PyPI page → Author: Jeff Huber <jeff@trychroma.com>, Anton Troynikov <anton@trychroma.com>

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with chromadb:

import chromadb

print(chromadb.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install chromadb

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install chromadb

pip3

pip3 install chromadb

conda

conda install -c conda-forge chromadb

Poetry

poetry add chromadb

Dependencies

Installing chromadb will also install these packages:

build pydantic pydantic-settings pybase64 uvicorn[standard] numpy typing-extensions onnxruntime opentelemetry-api opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc opentelemetry-sdk tokenizers

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import chromadb; print(chromadb.__version__)"

If this prints a version number, installation succeeded. If you see a ModuleNotFoundError, see the errors section below.

Installation Errors

Common errors when installing chromadb with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'chromadb'

Cause: The package is not installed in the current Python environment.

Fix: Run pip install chromadb. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'chromadb' (installed but still failing)

Cause: pip installed the package into a different Python than the one running your script.

Fix: Use python -m pip install chromadb to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'chromadb'

Cause: The function or class does not exist in the installed version.

Fix: Check the version with pip show chromadb and upgrade with pip install --upgrade chromadb.

pip: command not found

Cause: pip is not in PATH or Python was not added to PATH during installation.

Fix: Try python -m pip install chromadb. On macOS/Linux try pip3.

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Cause: No write access to the system Python package directory.

Fix: Use a virtual environment, or add --user: pip install --user chromadb

SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: pip cannot verify PyPI's SSL certificate — common behind corporate proxies.

Fix: Try: pip install --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org chromadb

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`1.5.7` latest	2026-04-08
`1.5.6`	2026-04-07
`1.5.5`	2026-03-10
`1.5.4`	2026-03-08
`1.5.3`	2026-03-07

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage chromadb

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade chromadb

Install a specific version

pip install chromadb==1.5.7

Uninstall

pip uninstall chromadb

Check what is installed

pip show chromadb

Last updated: 2026-04-11 • Data from PyPI

How to Install chromadb in Python