Say that Chroma 1.3.0 applies the space of a schema only when the schema also turns an index on or off, and test it

[Laurianti]

Chroma 1.3.0 applies the space of a collection created with a schema only when the schema also turns an index on or off; with the space alone it keeps l2. docs/COMPATIBILITY.md says that 1.3.0 applies it in the request of this client and in plain HTTP, and the client messages and comments say that only 1.3.2 and later apply it.

• Measured on 13 October 2026: a schema with the space cosine on #embedding, a record [1, 0] and a query of [0, 1], whose distance is 1 with cosine and 2 with l2. In plain HTTP:

  The schema also	Chroma 1.3.0	Chroma 1.3.2
  nothing	l2, distance 2.0	cosine, distance 1.0
  turns off the full-text search index of #document	cosine, distance 1.0	cosine, distance 1.0
  turns off the string inverted index of a key	cosine, distance 1.0	cosine, distance 1.0
  turns on the string inverted index of a key	cosine, distance 1.0	cosine, distance 1.0
  turns off the string inverted index by default	cosine, distance 1.0	cosine, distance 1.0

  With the space alone, 1.3.0 keeps l2 also with this client and with the Python client 1.3.0, on fresh containers, three times each.

• Before: docs/COMPATIBILITY.md said that 1.3.0 applies the space in the request of this client and in plain HTTP. The message of CreateCollectionAsync and GetOrCreateCollectionAsync for another space said "only Chroma 1.3.2 and later apply the space with a schema".

• Now: docs/COMPATIBILITY.md, docs/sparse-vectors-and-schema.md, the message and the comments say that 1.3.0 applies the space only when the schema also turns an index on or off, and that 1.3.2 and later always apply it. No change of behavior.

• Tests:

  • The test of the space with a schema alone still runs from 1.3.2; a new one with an index turned off runs from 1.3.0. Both pass on 1.3.2, 1.5.9 and Chroma Cloud, and the new one on 1.3.0.
  • The message test fails with the client of main and passes with the change.
  • The whole suite passes on 1.5.9 and 0.6.3, and the client builds for netstandard2.0 and net462.

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

The compatibility correction is consistently documented and covered by targeted tests, with only a minor naming concern.

1 open finding

• Clarify test name to indicate the index is disabled · New

What changed in this PR

Clarifies Chroma 1.3.0’s conditional handling of schema-defined spaces and adds regression coverage.

Changes:

• Corrects compatibility documentation and diagnostics.
• Tests space handling with an explicitly disabled index.
• Refactors shared schema-space test logic.

File	Description
docs/​sparse-vectors-and-schema.md	Documents Chroma 1.3.0 behavior.
docs/​COMPATIBILITY.md	Updates the compatibility matrix.
ChromaDB.Client/​ChromaClient.cs	Clarifies diagnostics and comments.
ChromaDB.Client.Tests/​SparseVectorsAndSchemaTests.cs	Updates diagnostic assertions.
ChromaDB.Client.Tests/​ClientTests.cs	Adds integration coverage.
ChromaDB.Client.Tests/​ChromaTestsBase.cs	Clarifies version gating.

🧠 Review effort: Balanced

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