BerriAI/litellm · error · ImportError

uvicorn, gunicorn needs to be imported. Run - `pip install '

Error message

uvicorn, gunicorn needs to be imported. Run - `pip install 'litellm[proxy]'`

What it means

Import guard on the default (non-granian) server path: 'import uvicorn' (and by extension gunicorn) failed because the ASGI server dependencies are missing from the environment; the message directs the user to install the litellm[proxy] extra.

Source

Thrown at litellm/proxy/proxy_cli.py:1071

            headers=headers,
            save=save,
            config=config,
            use_queue=use_queue,
        )
        if run_granian:
            try:
                import granian  # noqa: F401
            except ImportError as e:
                raise ImportError(
                    "granian must be installed to use --run_granian. "
                    "Run `pip install granian` or `pip install 'litellm[proxy]'` "
                    "(Granian requires Python 3.10+)."
                ) from e
        else:
            try:
                import uvicorn
            except Exception:
                raise ImportError("uvicorn, gunicorn needs to be imported. Run - `pip install 'litellm[proxy]'`")

        db_connection_pool_limit = 100
        # Starts optional due to config fallback checks; guaranteed non-None before use.
        db_connection_timeout: int | float | None = 60
        db_connect_timeout: int | float | None = None
        db_socket_timeout: int | float | None = None
        db_disable_prepared_statements: bool = False
        db_extra_connection_params: dict | None = None
        db_statement_timeout: float | None = None
        db_lock_timeout: float | None = None
        general_settings = {}
        ### GET DB TOKEN FOR IAM AUTH ###

        if iam_token_db_auth or get_secret_bool("IAM_TOKEN_DB_AUTH"):
            from litellm.proxy.auth.rds_iam_token import generate_iam_auth_token

            db_host: Final = os.getenv("DATABASE_HOST")
            # Default to the Postgres standard port. Without a default,

View on GitHub (pinned to 77b7c6c40c)

Solutions

1. Install the proxy extras: pip install 'litellm[proxy]' so uvicorn and gunicorn are available.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at litellm/proxy/proxy_cli.py:1071 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of BerriAI/litellm@77b7c6c40c (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f8f7589dcc5975b4. Report an issue: GitHub.