From 716e0b702dca4e650f969cba55e573bf00a66e36 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Martin Alix <github@malix.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2026 18:20:14 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] docs: start ChromaDB via the bundled npm CLI (npm run
 chroma), drop redundant Python install

The mcp-server already depends on the npm chromadb package, which ships the
native chroma server CLI. Add a root 'chroma' script that runs that installed
copy, and point the README and setup.js at 'npm run chroma' instead of
'pip install chromadb && chroma run', so no Python or extra download is needed.
---
 README.md        | 8 ++++----
 package.json     | 3 ++-
 scripts/setup.js | 5 ++---
 3 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 16891eb..b2bf9cd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@ Claude Desktop
 - [Brave](https://brave.com/) or Chrome browser
 - [Claude Desktop](https://claude.ai/download)
 - *(Optional)* [Ollama](https://ollama.com/) for local AI — `ollama pull llama3.2 && ollama pull nomic-embed-text`
-- *(Optional)* Python 3.10+ for ChromaDB vector search — `pip install chromadb`
 
 ### Install
 
@@ -107,12 +106,13 @@ Restart Claude Desktop.
 
 ### (Optional) Start ChromaDB for Semantic Search
 
+ChromaDB ships with the server’s npm dependencies, so there is no extra install. Start it with:
+
 ```bash
-pip install chromadb
-chroma run --path ./storage/chroma
+npm run chroma
 ```
 
-ChromaDB runs at `http://localhost:8000`. Without it, BraveMCP falls back to SQLite keyword search — still works great.
+It serves at `http://localhost:8000` and persists to `./storage/chroma`. Without it, BraveMCP falls back to SQLite keyword search, which still works well.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a1b8f61..e210bfe 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
-    "setup": "node scripts/setup.js"
+    "setup": "node scripts/setup.js",
+    "chroma": "node mcp-server/node_modules/chromadb/dist/cli.mjs run --path ./storage/chroma"
   }
 }
diff --git a/scripts/setup.js b/scripts/setup.js
index 2b08b2b..a5f3689 100644
--- a/scripts/setup.js
+++ b/scripts/setup.js
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ async function checkServices() {
   if (isChromaRunning) {
     console.log("🟢 ChromaDB: Detected running on port 8000.");
   } else {
-    console.log("🔴 ChromaDB: Not detected on port 8000. Start it using: chroma run --path ./storage/chroma");
+    console.log("🔴 ChromaDB: Not detected on port 8000. Start it with: npm run chroma");
   }
 
   if (isMcpHttpRunning) {
@@ -107,8 +107,7 @@ async function checkServices() {
   console.log("     }");
   console.log("   }");
   console.log("\n2. Start local ChromaDB vector database:");
-  console.log("   pip install chromadb");
-  console.log("   chroma run --path ./storage/chroma");
+  console.log("   npm run chroma");
   console.log("\n3. Load the browser extension:");
   console.log("   - Open Brave or Chrome at chrome://extensions/");
   console.log("   - Toggle 'Developer mode' on.");