FlowiseAI/Flowise · error · Error

Please install huggingface as a dependency with, e.g. `pnpm

Error message

Please install huggingface as a dependency with, e.g. `pnpm add @huggingface/inference`

What it means

The static imports() method dynamically imports @huggingface/inference; if the module cannot be resolved it re-throws with this install hint. This is a runtime dependency-resolution failure, not a network error.

Source

Thrown at packages/components/nodes/llms/HuggingFaceInference/core.ts:110

            },
            inputs: prompt
        }
        if (!this.endpoint) {
            obj.model = this.model
        }
        const res = await this.caller.callWithOptions({ signal: options.signal }, hfClient.textGeneration.bind(hfClient), obj)
        return res.generated_text
    }

    /** @ignore */
    static async imports(): Promise<{
        HfInference: typeof import('@huggingface/inference').HfInference
    }> {
        try {
            const { HfInference } = await import('@huggingface/inference')
            return { HfInference }
        } catch (e) {
            throw new Error('Please install huggingface as a dependency with, e.g. `pnpm add @huggingface/inference`')
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to abe4a8601a)

Solutions

Install the package in the components workspace: pnpm add @huggingface/inference.
Rebuild/redeploy the image so node_modules includes the package.
Confirm it resolves at runtime: node -e "require.resolve('@huggingface/inference')".

Example fix

// before: @huggingface/inference missing from package.json
// after
pnpm --filter flowise-components add @huggingface/inference

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Fail fast at boot if the optional dependency is missing
try { require.resolve('@huggingface/inference') }
catch { throw new Error('Run: pnpm add @huggingface/inference before using HuggingFaceInference') }

Type guard

async function huggingfaceAvailable(): Promise<boolean> {
  try { await import('@huggingface/inference'); return true } catch { return false }
}

Try / catch

try {
  const { HfInference } = await import('@huggingface/inference')
} catch {
  // degrade gracefully or instruct the user to install the dependency
  throw new Error('Install @huggingface/inference to use this node')
}

Prevention

Declare @huggingface/inference in the components package.json dependencies.
Run require.resolve checks in a boot smoke test.
Rebuild production images after adding the dependency.
Verify optional deps are not tree-shaken out of the bundle.

When it happens

Trigger: First _call() to the HuggingFaceInference node triggers imports(); the @huggingface/inference package is absent from node_modules in the running deployment.

Common situations: Custom/trimmed Flowise build that omitted the optional dependency; production image built without install of the components package deps; monorepo hoisting removed the package; package renamed/removed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of FlowiseAI/Flowise@abe4a8601a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/57edbcda09d4d770. Report an issue: GitHub.