Fix RAGStorage to use custom path for ChromaDB persist_directory

- Add path normalization to convert relative paths to absolute paths
- Override ChromaDB persist_directory when custom path is provided
- Treat empty/whitespace paths as None (use default behavior)
- Add comprehensive tests for custom path functionality
- Test ShortTermMemory and EntityMemory with custom paths
- Test default behavior remains unchanged
- Test path isolation between different storage instances
- Test edge cases (empty string, whitespace, relative paths)

Fixes #3947

Co-Authored-By: João <joao@crewai.com>

lib/crewai/src/crewai/memory/storage/rag_storage.py

@@ -47,7 +47,12 @@ class RAGStorage(BaseRAGStorage):
         self._client: BaseClient | None = None
 
         self.allow_reset = allow_reset
-        self.path = path
+        
+        if path and path.strip():
+            import os
+            self.path = os.path.abspath(path.strip())
+        else:
+            self.path = None
 
         warnings.filterwarnings(
             "ignore",
@@ -96,6 +101,10 @@ class RAGStorage(BaseRAGStorage):
                         ChromaEmbeddingFunctionWrapper, embedding_function
                     )
                 )
+            
+            if self.path:
+                config.settings.persist_directory = self.path
+            
             self._client = create_client(config)
 
     def _get_client(self) -> BaseClient:

lib/crewai/tests/memory/test_rag_storage_path.py

@@ -0,0 +1,270 @@
+"""Tests for RAGStorage custom path functionality."""
+
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+from crewai.agent import Agent
+from crewai.crew import Crew
+from crewai.memory.entity.entity_memory import EntityMemory
+from crewai.memory.short_term.short_term_memory import ShortTermMemory
+from crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage import RAGStorage
+from crewai.task import Task
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def crew():
+    """Fixture to create a simple Crew instance."""
+    agent = Agent(
+        role="Researcher",
+        goal="Search relevant data",
+        backstory="You are a researcher.",
+        tools=[],
+    )
+    task = Task(
+        description="Perform a search.",
+        expected_output="A list of results.",
+        agent=agent,
+    )
+    return Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task])
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def fake_embedder_config():
+    """Fixture to provide a fake embedder config that doesn't hit the network."""
+    def fake_embedding_function(texts):
+        """Fake embedding function that returns constant vectors."""
+        if isinstance(texts, str):
+            texts = [texts]
+        return [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+    
+    return fake_embedding_function
+
+
+class TestRAGStorageCustomPath:
+    """Test suite for RAGStorage custom path functionality."""
+
+    def test_rag_storage_with_custom_path_normalizes_to_absolute(self, crew, tmp_path):
+        """Test that RAGStorage normalizes relative paths to absolute paths."""
+        relative_path = "relative/test/path"
+        
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder:
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            
+            storage = RAGStorage(
+                type="short_term",
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                crew=crew,
+                path=relative_path,
+            )
+            
+            assert storage.path is not None
+            assert os.path.isabs(storage.path)
+            assert storage.path.endswith(relative_path)
+
+    def test_rag_storage_with_empty_string_path_uses_default(self, crew):
+        """Test that empty string path falls back to default behavior."""
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder:
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            
+            storage = RAGStorage(
+                type="short_term",
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                crew=crew,
+                path="",
+            )
+            
+            assert storage.path is None
+
+    def test_rag_storage_with_whitespace_path_uses_default(self, crew):
+        """Test that whitespace-only path falls back to default behavior."""
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder:
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            
+            storage = RAGStorage(
+                type="short_term",
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                crew=crew,
+                path="   ",
+            )
+            
+            assert storage.path is None
+
+    def test_rag_storage_with_none_path_uses_default(self, crew):
+        """Test that None path uses default behavior."""
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder:
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            
+            storage = RAGStorage(
+                type="short_term",
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                crew=crew,
+                path=None,
+            )
+            
+            assert storage.path is None
+
+    def test_rag_storage_sets_persist_directory_when_path_provided(self, crew, tmp_path):
+        """Test that RAGStorage sets ChromaDB persist_directory when path is provided."""
+        custom_path = str(tmp_path / "custom_storage")
+        
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder, \
+             patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.create_client") as mock_create_client:
+            
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            mock_create_client.return_value = MagicMock()
+            
+            storage = RAGStorage(
+                type="short_term",
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                crew=crew,
+                path=custom_path,
+            )
+            
+            assert mock_create_client.called
+            config = mock_create_client.call_args[0][0]
+            assert config.settings.persist_directory == os.path.abspath(custom_path)
+
+    def test_rag_storage_does_not_override_persist_directory_when_no_path(self, crew):
+        """Test that RAGStorage doesn't override persist_directory when path is None."""
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder, \
+             patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.create_client") as mock_create_client:
+            
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            mock_create_client.return_value = MagicMock()
+            
+            storage = RAGStorage(
+                type="short_term",
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                crew=crew,
+                path=None,
+            )
+            
+            assert mock_create_client.called
+            config = mock_create_client.call_args[0][0]
+            assert "CrewAI" in config.settings.persist_directory or "crewai" in config.settings.persist_directory.lower()
+
+
+class TestShortTermMemoryCustomPath:
+    """Test suite for ShortTermMemory with custom path."""
+
+    def test_short_term_memory_with_custom_path(self, crew, tmp_path):
+        """Test that ShortTermMemory accepts and uses custom path."""
+        custom_path = str(tmp_path / "short_term_storage")
+        
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder, \
+             patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.create_client") as mock_create_client:
+            
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            mock_client = MagicMock()
+            mock_create_client.return_value = mock_client
+            
+            memory = ShortTermMemory(
+                crew=crew,
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                path=custom_path,
+            )
+            
+            assert memory.storage.path == os.path.abspath(custom_path)
+            
+            assert mock_create_client.called
+            config = mock_create_client.call_args[0][0]
+            assert config.settings.persist_directory == os.path.abspath(custom_path)
+
+    def test_short_term_memory_default_behavior_unchanged(self, crew):
+        """Test that ShortTermMemory default behavior (no path) is unchanged."""
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder, \
+             patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.create_client") as mock_create_client:
+            
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            mock_client = MagicMock()
+            mock_create_client.return_value = mock_client
+            
+            memory = ShortTermMemory(
+                crew=crew,
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+            )
+            
+            assert memory.storage.path is None
+
+
+class TestEntityMemoryCustomPath:
+    """Test suite for EntityMemory with custom path."""
+
+    def test_entity_memory_with_custom_path(self, crew, tmp_path):
+        """Test that EntityMemory accepts and uses custom path."""
+        custom_path = str(tmp_path / "entity_storage")
+        
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder, \
+             patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.create_client") as mock_create_client:
+            
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            mock_client = MagicMock()
+            mock_create_client.return_value = mock_client
+            
+            memory = EntityMemory(
+                crew=crew,
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                path=custom_path,
+            )
+            
+            assert memory.storage.path == os.path.abspath(custom_path)
+            
+            assert mock_create_client.called
+            config = mock_create_client.call_args[0][0]
+            assert config.settings.persist_directory == os.path.abspath(custom_path)
+
+    def test_entity_memory_default_behavior_unchanged(self, crew):
+        """Test that EntityMemory default behavior (no path) is unchanged."""
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder, \
+             patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.create_client") as mock_create_client:
+            
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            mock_client = MagicMock()
+            mock_create_client.return_value = mock_client
+            
+            memory = EntityMemory(
+                crew=crew,
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+            )
+            
+            assert memory.storage.path is None
+
+
+class TestPathIsolation:
+    """Test suite for verifying path isolation between different storage instances."""
+
+    def test_different_paths_create_different_storage_instances(self, crew, tmp_path):
+        """Test that different paths result in isolated storage."""
+        path1 = str(tmp_path / "storage1")
+        path2 = str(tmp_path / "storage2")
+        
+        with patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.build_embedder") as mock_embedder, \
+             patch("crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage.create_client") as mock_create_client:
+            
+            mock_embedder.return_value = lambda texts: [[0.1] * 384 for _ in texts]
+            mock_create_client.return_value = MagicMock()
+            
+            storage1 = RAGStorage(
+                type="short_term",
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                crew=crew,
+                path=path1,
+            )
+            
+            storage2 = RAGStorage(
+                type="short_term",
+                embedder_config={"provider": "openai"},
+                crew=crew,
+                path=path2,
+            )
+            
+            assert storage1.path != storage2.path
+            assert storage1.path == os.path.abspath(path1)
+            assert storage2.path == os.path.abspath(path2)
+            
+            assert mock_create_client.call_count == 2
+            config1 = mock_create_client.call_args_list[0][0][0]
+            config2 = mock_create_client.call_args_list[1][0][0]
+            assert config1.settings.persist_directory != config2.settings.persist_directory