I’m facing an issue with the OpenAI Python package. Even though pip shows that the library is already installed when I run the install command, I keep getting a ModuleNotFoundError when trying to import it.
When I check the installation status:
$ pip install openai
Requirement already satisfied: openai in ./lib/python3.8/site-packages (1.10.0)
Requirement already satisfied: httpx<1,>=0.23.0 in ./lib/python3.8/site-packages (from openai) (0.26.0)
Requirement already satisfied: pydantic<3,>=1.9.0 in ./lib/python3.8/site-packages (from openai) (2.6.0)
Requirement already satisfied: typing-extensions<5,>=4.7 in ./lib/python3.8/site-packages (from openai) (4.8.0)
Requirement already satisfied: anyio<5,>=3.5.0 in /usr/lib/python3.8/dist-packages (from openai) (3.6.2)
Everything looks fine. But when I try to use it in Python:
$ python3
Python 3.11.6 (main, Oct 23 2023, 22:47:21) [GCC 9.4.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from openai import OpenAI
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'openai'
What could be causing this mismatch between the installation and import? Any ideas on how to fix this problem would be really helpful.
Classic Python environment mismatch. You’re installing packages with pip (targeting Python 3.8 based on that ./lib/python3.8/site-packages path) but running Python 3.11.6 when you execute python3. These are totally different Python installations. I hit this exact same issue last year with multiple Python versions on Ubuntu. Fix it by either using pip3.11 to install the package for your Python 3.11 setup, or run python3.11 -m pip install openai to make sure you’re installing to the right Python version. Check which Python version your pip targets with pip --version - it’ll show you the associated Python version. Just make sure your pip and python commands both point to the same Python installation.
I hit the same issue mixing conda environments with system Python. Your pip output shows ./lib/python3.8/site-packages but you’re running Python 3.11 - that’s the problem right there. Run which python3 and which pip to see what executables you’re actually using. If you’re supposed to be in a virtual environment, activate it first. Also try python3 -c "import sys; print(sys.path)" to see where Python 3.11 is looking for modules. The package’s installed, just not where your Python 3.11 interpreter can find it.
you’ve got multiple python versions installed and they’re conflicting. try python3.8 -c "import openai" - i bet it’ll work fine. your pip installed the package to 3.8 but you’re running 3.11. either use python3.8 or reinstall for 3.11 with python3.11 -m pip install openai. super common on linux.