chroma[patch]: Chroma - remove reference to collection upon delete_collection (#21817)

**Description**:

- Reference to `Collection` object is set to `None` when deleting a
collection `delete_collection()`
- Added utility method `reset_collection()` to allow recreating the
collection
- Moved collection creation out of `__init__` into
`__ensure_collection()` to be reused by object init and
`reset_collection()`
- `_collection` is now a property to avoid breaking changes

**Issues**: 

- chroma-core/chroma#2213

**Twitter**: @t_azarov

libs/partners/chroma/langchain_chroma/vectorstores.py

@@ -163,16 +163,33 @@ class Chroma(VectorStore):
             )
 
         self._embedding_function = embedding_function
+        self._chroma_collection: Optional[chromadb.Collection] = None
+        self._collection_name = collection_name
+        self._collection_metadata = collection_metadata
         if create_collection_if_not_exists:
-            self._collection = self._client.get_or_create_collection(
+            self.__ensure_collection()
-                name=collection_name,
-                embedding_function=None,
-                metadata=collection_metadata,
-            )
         else:
-            self._collection = self._client.get_collection(name=collection_name)
+            self._chroma_collection = self._client.get_collection(name=collection_name)
         self.override_relevance_score_fn = relevance_score_fn
 
+    def __ensure_collection(self) -> None:
+        """Ensure that the collection exists or create it."""
+        self._chroma_collection = self._client.get_or_create_collection(
+            name=self._collection_name,
+            embedding_function=None,
+            metadata=self._collection_metadata,
+        )
+
+    @property
+    def _collection(self) -> chromadb.Collection:
+        """Returns the underlying Chroma collection or throws an exception."""
+        if self._chroma_collection is None:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Chroma collection not initialized. "
+                "Use `reset_collection` to re-create and initialize the collection. "
+            )
+        return self._chroma_collection
+
     @property
     def embeddings(self) -> Optional[Embeddings]:
         return self._embedding_function
@@ -607,6 +624,13 @@ class Chroma(VectorStore):
     def delete_collection(self) -> None:
         """Delete the collection."""
         self._client.delete_collection(self._collection.name)
+        self._chroma_collection = None
+
+    def reset_collection(self) -> None:
+        """Resets the collection by deleting the collection
+        and recreating an empty one."""
+        self.delete_collection()
+        self.__ensure_collection()
 
     def get(
         self,

libs/partners/chroma/tests/integration_tests/test_vectorstores.py

@@ -489,3 +489,42 @@ def test_create_collection_if_not_exist_true_non_existing(
 
     assert vectorstore._client.get_collection("test_collection") is not None
     vectorstore.delete_collection()
+
+
+def test_collection_none_after_delete(
+    client: chromadb.ClientAPI,
+) -> None:
+    """Tests create_collection_if_not_exists=True and collection non-existing. ."""
+    vectorstore = Chroma(
+        client=client,
+        collection_name="test_collection",
+        embedding_function=FakeEmbeddings(),
+    )
+
+    assert vectorstore._client.get_collection("test_collection") is not None
+    vectorstore.delete_collection()
+    assert vectorstore._chroma_collection is None
+    with pytest.raises(Exception, match="Chroma collection not initialized"):
+        _ = vectorstore._collection
+    with pytest.raises(Exception, match="does not exist"):
+        vectorstore._client.get_collection("test_collection")
+    with pytest.raises(Exception):
+        vectorstore.similarity_search("foo")
+
+
+def test_reset_collection(client: chromadb.ClientAPI) -> None:
+    """Tests ensure_collection method."""
+    vectorstore = Chroma(
+        client=client,
+        collection_name="test_collection",
+        embedding_function=FakeEmbeddings(),
+    )
+    vectorstore.add_documents([Document(page_content="foo")])
+    assert vectorstore._collection.count() == 1
+    vectorstore.reset_collection()
+    assert vectorstore._chroma_collection is not None
+    assert vectorstore._client.get_collection("test_collection") is not None
+    assert vectorstore._collection.name == "test_collection"
+    assert vectorstore._collection.count() == 0
+    # Clean up
+    vectorstore.delete_collection()