[Bug]: KeyError: '_type' when using Docker with versions >1.0.0 (including latest)

[aryanranderiya]

What happened?

I'm using ChromaDB in a Dockerized FastAPI app and encountered the following error when calling await client.create_collection():

f"Trying to instantiate configuration of type {cls.__name__} from JSON with type {json_map['_type']}"
KeyError: '_type'

• This is running inside a Docker container (Python 3.12).
• Downgrading to 1.0.0 temporarily resolves the issue.
• When pinging localhost:8080/api/v2/heartbeat it works fine — so the server is reachable and responsive.

Versions

Docker image: chromadb/chroma:latest
Python 3.12.10
Ubuntu 24 LTS

✅ Works fine with version 1.0.0
❌ Fails with version 1.0.6
❌ Fails with the latest version (as of now)

Relevant log output

File "/app/app/db/chromadb.py", line 221, in init_chroma
await client.create_collection(
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/chromadb/api/async_client.py", line 181, in create_collection
model = await self._server.create_collection(
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/chromadb/telemetry/opentelemetry/__init__.py", line 134, in async_wrapper
return await f(*args, **kwargs)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/chromadb/api/async_fastapi.py", line 291, in create_collection
model = CollectionModel.from_json(resp_json)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/chromadb/types.py", line 156, in from_json
configuration = CollectionConfigurationInternal.from_json(
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/chromadb/api/configuration.py", line 209, in from_json
f"Trying to instantiate configuration of type {cls.__name__} from JSON with type {json_map['_type']}"
~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^
KeyError: '_type'

[osamaoam]

'_type' can be resolved by upgrading the dependencies for the package. Occurs when a package is updated but dependencies are not.

[jairad26]

Hi, as part of 1.0.7, the dockerfile has been updated to run against the upgraded Rust implementation of chromadb, which requires an upgrade to the python client. What version of the python client are you running? could you try upgrading to latest, 1.0.7?

[CoderDinosaur]

Hi, I meet the same problem, even if I pull the newest docker image (chromadb/chroma:1.0.8.dev14).

Please tell me what dependency I show update them?

[tazarov]

hey @CoderDinosaur, when you use Chroma in a client/server mode. Your server is the docker image but when accessing you will use either the core lib chromadb or the thin client chromadb-client. You need to make sure that either chromadb or chromadb-client are with the same version 1.0.7:

pip install --upgrade chromadb

[CoderDinosaur]

hey @tazarov , thank you so much! it wased resloved. I forget using the param "--upgrade", just execute the pip instgall again It`s my bad o(╥﹏╥)o.

Btw, I was intergrated the chromadb with autogen-ext package, I suspected that it was a problem with autogen because of the it was upgrade to version 0.5. It was not it error

[sandipsahoo2k2]

hey @tazarov , thank you so much! it wased resloved. I forget using the param "--upgrade", just execute the pip instgall again It`s my bad o(╥﹏╥)o.

Btw, I was intergrated the chromadb with autogen-ext package, I suspected that it was a problem with autogen because of the it was upgrade to version 0.5. It was not it error

I did install --upgrade chromadb and i see new library are pulled, restarted. I still have the same issue !

[CoderDinosaur]

Hi @sandipsahoo2k2, firstly my local chromadb is running on docker with image (chromadb/chroma:1.0.8.dev14), maybe you should also update them.

But I found some additional information about the chromadb. (When I am not update the chromadb docker image and chromadb package to the newest version), maybe it can help you too.

If I using the chromadb.HttpClient to connect chromadb, it will raise the issue. But I can connect the chromadb successfully when I using the chromadb.persistentClient ......

But I wish connect the chromadb by HttpClient, so I update the docker image and package to the newest version , and it was solved after update them.

Hope it can help you~

[sandipsahoo2k2]

Thank you @CoderDinosaur . I tried using your version and it doesnt fix my issue. I am using chromadb.HttpClient to connect.
I have lost hope with chorma, I tried so many options and now I am using Redis which has no issue so far ! Thank you anyway to try to help me.

[andreivladmatei]

@sandipsahoo2k2, just use the latest client with the latest server and it will work :)

[csaben]

i had to pin to version 1 for this to work with docker. pretty rough

[jairad26]

@sandipsahoo2k2 @csaben , and everyone else who runs into this issue into the future, apologies for the poor error message. when running chromadb using a dockerfile, that image runs the server. to interact with it via python, you would be using the python client, connecting via the HttpClient. To fix this issue, you would need to upgrade the client version to match the server (or anything after). In this case it would be client versions >=1.0.7