chroma-core/chroma

[ENH] Client / Server versioning compatibility

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#2524 opened on Jul 16, 2024

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 (3 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)Rust (27,958 stars) (2,247 forks)batch import
by-chromadeploymentgood first issue

Description

It's possible for users to not keep upgrades of clients and servers for Chroma in sync (e.g. https://github.com/chroma-core/chroma/issues/2510)

This can lead to confusing errors. In general, we don't want to support mismatched client and server versions, though we do have limited backward compatibility between older client versions (which may be distributed to user machines and might not receive upgrades) and newer servers.

We should:

  • Add a way for clients and servers to communicate their versions to each other
  • Add logic to check for version compatibility
  • Throw friendly error messages explaining the upgrade path, including any commands or utilities which need to be run.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rustpython
Domain
backendapidevops
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
3-5 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of client server architectureUnderstanding of semantic versioningFamiliarity with Chroma codebase structure
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
50
Research direction
Review the existing communication protocol between client and server (likely HTTP or gRPC) to determine where version information can be added. Examine the current versioning setup (e.g., Cargo.toml for server, package.json or setup.py for client). Check the referenced issue #2510 for common error scenarios. Consider implementing version checks in the client's initialization or server's request handling, and define a compatibility policy (e.g., major version mismatch should error, minor/patch mismatch should warn). Write clear error messages with upgrade instructions.