Chroma pip install "Failed to build hnswlib" Error

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Fix the compile step

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   1. If you see "clang: error: the clang compiler does not support -march=native", run export HNSWLIB_NO_NATIVE=1
   2. On Mac run xcode-select --install
   3. Retry pip install chromadb
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Windows

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   1. Install the Microsoft C++ Build Tools (see the steps linked from the Chroma troubleshooting page)
   2. Retry pip install chromadb
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

pip install chromadb ends with "Failed to build hnswlib" or "Could not build wheels for hnswlib".

Why it happens

• No C++ compiler or build tools installed
• clang rejecting -march=native
• Windows without build tools

This guide also covers

• chromadb failed to build hnswlib
• pip install chromadb error
• could not build wheels for hnswlib

Other Chroma errors

• Chroma "Your system has an unsupported version of sqlite3" Error
• Chroma InvalidDimensionException: Embedding Dimension Does Not Match Collection
• Chroma Data Disappears After Restart (Persistence Fix)
• Chroma "Collection Not Found" Error
• Chroma "Collection Already Exists" UniqueConstraintError
• Chroma "sqlite3.OperationalError: database is locked"
• Chroma "Could not connect to tenant default_tenant" Error
• Chroma "Cannot return the results in a contiguous 2D array. Probably ef or M is too small"