diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 246f5e7..cfb7f1b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 srv_secrets.py
 venv/
+./chroma_db
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index 5ff304b..5b78830 100755
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ user_sessions = {}
 # init vectorstore embedding
 os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = srv_secrets.openai_key
 llm = ChatOpenAI(model_name="gpt-3.5-turbo", temperature=0)
-vectorstore = Chroma(persist_directory="./chroma_db", embedding_function=OpenAIEmbeddings()) 
+vectorstore = Chroma(persist_directory=srv_secrets.chroma_db_dir, embedding_function=OpenAIEmbeddings()) 
 
 # Setup Logging
 logging.basicConfig()
diff --git a/chroma_db/chroma.sqlite3 b/chroma_db/chroma.sqlite3
deleted file mode 100644
index 1baf74b..0000000
Binary files a/chroma_db/chroma.sqlite3 and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/data_level0.bin b/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/data_level0.bin
deleted file mode 100644
index a27f1eb..0000000
Binary files a/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/data_level0.bin and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/header.bin b/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/header.bin
deleted file mode 100644
index 3e0932a..0000000
Binary files a/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/header.bin and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/length.bin b/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/length.bin
deleted file mode 100644
index 1dc89f8..0000000
Binary files a/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/length.bin and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/link_lists.bin b/chroma_db/f05af4bf-d28d-4f37-a26a-bcb2669a7734/link_lists.bin
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000