diff --git a/litellm/vector_stores/vector_store_registry.py b/litellm/vector_stores/vector_store_registry.py
index 070dd47a39c..6e9e7ad9029 100644
--- a/litellm/vector_stores/vector_store_registry.py
+++ b/litellm/vector_stores/vector_store_registry.py
@@ -22,11 +22,11 @@ else:
 
 class VectorStoreIndexRegistry:
     def __init__(
-        self, vector_store_indexes: List[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex] = []
+        self, vector_store_indexes: Optional[List[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex]] = None
     ):
         self.vector_store_indexes: List[
             LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex
-        ] = vector_store_indexes
+        ] = vector_store_indexes or []
 
     def get_vector_store_indexes(self) -> List[LiteLLM_ManagedVectorStoreIndex]:
         """