specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/RateLimits
provider: Chroma
providerId: chroma
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: false
tags:
  - AI
  - Vector Database
  - Retrieval
  - Serverless
  - Rate Limiting
description: Chroma Cloud is serverless and meters Write / Storage / Query / Network rather than
  capping requests per second. Public documentation does not publish a numeric per-second or
  per-minute API rate-limit policy; tenants that exceed configured spend or per-database scaling
  envelopes are paused rather than throttled. The open-source Chroma server (self-hosted) has no
  built-in rate limiter — limits are bounded by the underlying host.
notes: Chroma does not publish a numeric API rate-limit table. Tenants on Starter / Team are paused
  if usage exceeds limits; Enterprise can negotiate single-tenant capacity envelopes.
sources:
  - https://www.trychroma.com/pricing
  - https://docs.trychroma.com/
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
  serverError: 500
  serviceUnavailable: 503
limits:
  - name: Cloud usage envelope
    scope: tenant
    metric: varies
    limit: 'usage-bounded — Write / Storage / Query / Network are metered, not capped per-second'
    notes: Service pauses if monthly usage exceeds plan limits (Starter / Team) or contracted ceiling
      (Enterprise).
  - name: Self-hosted server
    scope: deployment
    metric: varies
    limit: 'no built-in rate limit — bounded by host CPU / RAM and any front-proxy throttling'
    notes: Open-source Chroma does not enforce per-client rate limits; operators add a reverse-proxy
      throttle if needed.
policies:
  - name: Backoff Strategy
    description: On 429 / 5xx, retry with exponential backoff and jitter; honor Retry-After when
      present.
  - name: Batch Writes
    description: Use batched add / upsert calls rather than per-vector writes to keep the Write meter
      and request count efficient.
  - name: Pause on Quota
    description: Cloud tenants are paused (not throttled) when plan usage limits are exceeded; bump
      plan or raise the Enterprise envelope to resume.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com