[Feature Request]: Need Client API to read from an existing Chroma Database files on disk

[venkatkalluru]

Describe the problem

Currently there is no read only client API which can point to an existing Chroma Database file and use it. The existing PersistentClient can be leveraged but when used it writes data back to the directory where the DB file exists and this is a problem when the DB directory is read only. Also it is semantically not correct to leverage a PersistentClient for read only operations.

Describe the proposed solution

Need a separate API which can take path to an existing DB directory, load it and use it to query the DB.

Alternatives considered

As mentioned in the description, PersistentClient API helps when the DB directory is writable but fails when it is Read Only.

Importance

would make my life easier

Additional Information

Discord Thread: https://discordapp.com/channels/1073293645303795742/1073293646083919946/1178832240873066586

[munknex]

Any news or known workarounds? :)

[maxupp]

I'm interested in this as well. We want to host the Chroma data on EFS and have it writable from a config UI, but only readable for any Chroma-dependent instances´of our service.