diff --git a/etiquette/photodb.py b/etiquette/photodb.py
index ee223f8..124b116 100644
--- a/etiquette/photodb.py
+++ b/etiquette/photodb.py
@@ -1838,7 +1838,7 @@ class PhotoDB(
             self,
             data_directory=None,
             *,
-            create=True,
+            create=False,
             ephemeral=False,
             skip_version_check=False,
         ):