lossless-monorepo/agent-skills/chroma-agent-skills/src/chroma-local/general/cli

Chroma CLI

The Chroma CLI can also be used for local open source Chroma workflows. This topic focuses on starting and managing a local server, not Chroma Cloud account setup.

Install

pip install chromadb

Start a local server

Run Chroma locally on the default address:

chroma run

This starts a server on localhost:8000.

Choose a persistent data directory

Store local data in a specific path instead of the default working directory:

chroma run --path ./chroma-data

Change the port

If another process already uses port 8000, pick another one:

chroma run --port 8001

Update your client code to match the chosen host and port.

Local workflow tips

• Use a dedicated data directory per environment so dev and test data do not mix.
• In tests, use disposable directories or clear collections between runs.
• Check that the server is running before debugging client-side collection errors.