From 5a2844c7cb25fd0705f3abeb86db124796b72708 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Matteo Rosati <rosati.matteo@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 10 May 2026 16:35:37 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] document the CHROMA_FOLDER env var usage in help

---
 chromy/cli.py     | 11 ++++++++++-
 tests/test_cli.py |  8 ++++++++
 2 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/chromy/cli.py b/chromy/cli.py
index 402be66..00358ab 100644
--- a/chromy/cli.py
+++ b/chromy/cli.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import typer
 from chromadb.errors import InternalError, NotFoundError
 from rich import print
 
+from chromy.chroma_functions import CHROMA_FOLDER_ENV_VAR
 from chromy.errors import ChromaPathError
 from chromy.handlers.count_collection import handle_count_collection
 from chromy.handlers.create_collection import handle_create_collection
@@ -17,7 +18,15 @@ from chromy.handlers.import_data import handle_import
 from chromy.handlers.list_collections import handle_list_collections
 from chromy.handlers.query import handle_query
 
-app = typer.Typer(help="Chromy, local RAG CLI based on Chromadb.")
+app = typer.Typer(
+    help=(
+        "Chromy, local RAG CLI based on Chromadb.\n\n"
+        "Storage location:\n"
+        "- By default, Chromy uses Chroma's default persistent location behavior.\n"
+        f"- Set {CHROMA_FOLDER_ENV_VAR} to a parent directory to override it.\n"
+        f"- Chromy stores data in <{CHROMA_FOLDER_ENV_VAR}>/chroma."
+    )
+)
 
 ExitCodeHandler = Callable[[], int]
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 9642ec3..4b34204 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -252,6 +252,14 @@ class CliTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertNotEqual(result.exit_code, 0)
         self.assertIn("Missing option", result.output)
 
+    def test_cli_help_documents_chroma_folder_env_var(self) -> None:
+        result = _invoke(["--help"])
+
+        self.assertEqual(result.exit_code, 0)
+        self.assertIn("CHROMA_FOLDER", result.stdout)
+        self.assertIn("parent directory", result.stdout)
+        self.assertIn("<CHROMA_FOLDER>/chroma", result.stdout)
+
     def test_cli_surfaces_chroma_path_errors(self) -> None:
         with patch(
             "chromy.handlers.list_collections.list_collections",