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ChromaDB

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Chroma vector database, single container + volume, internal-only (Chroma has no built-in auth; the project network is the boundary, like the MongoDB template).

Image details

Pulls: 7.7M
Architecture: amd64, arm64
Image size: 172 MB
Latest: 1.5.10.dev296
User: jeffchroma
Created: May 09, 2023
Updated: 2 days ago
Status: active

Configuration

Type
Compose
Platform
linux
Image
chromadb/chroma:1.5.9
Ports
8000:8000
Volumes
/chroma/chroma : chromadata
Env vars
IS_PERSISTENT=TRUEANONYMIZED_TELEMETRY=FALSE
Restart
unless-stopped
Source
Repo

Template by deployable-sh·Source

Report issue

Standalone Install

Select an install method, to see config/commands for deploying ChromaDB

Installation method

Install on Portainer

Import all app templates into your Portainer instance, for easy 1-click deploys

  1. Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
  2. Log into your Portainer web UI
  3. Under Settings → App Templates, paste the below URL
  4. Head to Home → App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
  5. Select ChromaDB, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy

Template Import URL

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json
Show Me demo
Original stackfile

The compose file this template deploys, straight from its repo:

name: chromadb

services:
  chroma:
    image: chromadb/chroma:1.5.9
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      IS_PERSISTENT: "TRUE"
      ANONYMIZED_TELEMETRY: "FALSE"
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    volumes:
      - chromadata:/chroma/chroma

volumes:
  chromadata:

Or deploy it directly from the source:

git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd stacks
docker compose -f chromadb/compose.yaml up -d

More install options in our documentation.

Serve ChromaDB on your own domain behind Caddy, Nginx or Traefik. Fill in your domain and copy the result. It's a starting point, some apps need their own base URL or extra headers set too.

Proxying chromadb.example.com to http://chroma:8000

Add this to your Caddyfile

chromadb.example.com {
	reverse_proxy http://chroma:8000
}

Check the logs first

Nine times out of ten the logs tell you exactly what went wrong.

  • In Portainer, go to Containers, click the container, then Logs. Or run docker logs <container>
  • Exit codes help too: 137 means killed, usually out of memory. 126 or 127 means the command inside the image is broken.

Port already in use

If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:8000 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.

  • Find what's using it: sudo ss -tlnp | grep :8000
  • Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In 8000:8000 only the left number is yours to change, the right one belongs to the app.

Running but the page won't load

The container is up but nothing appears in your browser.

  • Use your server's real IP: http://your-server-ip:8000. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address.
  • Give it a minute after first deploy, chroma can take a while to initialise.
  • Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g. sudo ufw allow 8000

Image won't pull

Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull chromadb/chroma:1.5.9

  • "manifest unknown" means the tag no longer exists.
  • "toomanyrequests" is the Docker Hub rate limit. Log in with docker login to raise it.
  • "no space left on device" means a full disk. Reclaim space with docker system prune

"exec format error"

This means the image was built for a different CPU architecture than your server.

  • This image supports: amd64, arm64
  • Check yours with uname -m: x86_64 is amd64, aarch64 is arm64. Raspberry Pi and other ARM boards are the usual culprits.

Container keeps restarting

The unless-stopped restart policy relaunches the app after every crash, so the real error can scroll past.

  • Check the logs right after a restart, the last few lines before it died are the useful ones.
  • Get the exit code with docker inspect <container> --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}'
  • Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to no so the failure stays visible.

Stack won't deploy

Compose stacks fail fast on small mistakes, and Portainer shows the reason just above the editor.

  • YAML only accepts spaces for indentation, a single tab breaks the whole file.

Raise an issue

Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.

A Compose stack

ChromaDB is a Compose stack, a set of containers defined in one file and brought up together by Portainer, then started and stopped as a single app.

The app image

An image is the app packed up ready to go, everything ChromaDB needs bundled into one download. This template pulls chromadb/chroma:1.5.9, which Docker fetches once (about 172 MB) and then starts your own copy from.

Where the image comes from

Docker pulls its images from registries, public libraries of ready-built apps. ChromaDB's comes from Docker Hub, published by chromadb.

Version tags

The bit after the colon in the image name is the version tag. This one pins 1.5.9, so every redeploy gives you that exact build until you bump it yourself.

Which machines it runs on

Every image is built for particular CPU types. This one ships for amd64, arm64, so it runs on both regular x86 servers and ARM boards like a Raspberry Pi.

Ports

A port is the door the app answers on. A mapping like 8000:8000 means it's reachable on port 8000 of your server, where the left number is yours to change and the right one belongs to the app. Once it's running, open http://your-server-ip:8000 in a browser. It opens:

  • 8000:8000, likely the web interface

Volumes

A volume is where ChromaDB keeps its files so they survive an update or a restart. Without one, anything it saves would sit inside the container and vanish the moment it's recreated. This template mounts:

  • /chroma/chroma kept in the chromadata volume Docker manages

Environment variables

Environment variables are the settings you hand over when you deploy, things like a password or a timezone. ChromaDB takes 2 of them, all with defaults you can leave alone or tweak:

  • IS_PERSISTENT, defaults to TRUE
  • ANONYMIZED_TELEMETRY, defaults to FALSE

Restart policy

The restart policy here is unless-stopped, so Docker restarts ChromaDB after a crash or reboot, but leaves it off when you stop it on purpose. You can change this on the deploy screen. The choices are no (never restart), on-failure (only after a crash), unless-stopped (restart unless you stop it), and always (bring it back no matter what).

Networking

Nothing custom is set, so ChromaDB sits on Docker's default bridge network: its own private space that reaches the outside world only through the ports it publishes.

Container name

Once it's deployed, Portainer names the container chroma. That's what you'll spot in the containers list and use in commands like docker logs chroma.

Platform

The platform is linux, the kind of system the container is built to run on. Docker and Portainer handle this on a normal Linux server.

Portainer app templates

Zooming out, this whole page comes from a Portainer app template: a short recipe telling Portainer how to set ChromaDB up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying ChromaDB is a click rather than a wall of config.