What causes "Error loading extension: {name} [91m{e}[0m" in OpenBB-finance/OpenBB?

Reinstall the failing extension in lockstep with core: pip install -U --force-reinstall openbb openbb-yfinance (or the named extension from the message)

OpenBB-finance/OpenBB · warning · LoadingError

Error loading extension: {name} [91m{e}[0m

Error message

Error loading extension: {name}
[91m{e}[0m

What it means

Thrown during OpenBB provider-registry construction (RegistryLoader.from_extensions, cached at first import/use). While iterating all installed provider packages discovered via entry points, one provider object failed to be included in the registry. Only in DEBUG_MODE does it raise LoadingError with the traceback; otherwise it is emitted as an OpenBBWarning and the provider is silently skipped, so commands routed to that provider later fail with 'provider not found'.

Source

Thrown at openbb_platform/core/openbb_core/provider/registry.py:50


class RegistryLoader:
    """Load providers from entry points."""

    @staticmethod
    @lru_cache
    def from_extensions() -> Registry:
        """Load providers from entry points."""
        registry = Registry()

        for name, entry in ExtensionLoader().provider_objects.items():  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
            try:
                registry.include_provider(provider=entry)
            except Exception as e:
                msg = f"Error loading extension: {name}\n"
                if Env().DEBUG_MODE:
                    traceback.print_exception(type(e), e, e.__traceback__)
                    raise LoadingError(msg + f"\033[91m{e}\033[0m") from e
                warnings.warn(
                    message=msg,
                    category=OpenBBWarning,
                )
        return registry

View on GitHub (pinned to 3e071fcc2c)

Solutions

Reinstall the failing extension in lockstep with core: pip install -U --force-reinstall openbb openbb-yfinance (or the named extension from the message)
Set DEBUG_MODE=1 (env var) and re-run to get the full traceback and the true underlying exception
Verify the extension is compatible with your installed openbb-core version: pip show openbb-core openbb-<provider> and check the provider's release notes
If the extension is unneeded, uninstall it: pip uninstall openbb-<provider>
For custom providers, check the entry-point group/registration in pyproject.toml and that Provider instantiation does not raise

Example fix

# before: mixed versions cause the warning on every import
pip install -U openbb  # upgrades core only; providers left behind

# after: reinstall the whole platform so all extensions match core
pip install -U --force-reinstall openbb

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

import importlib.metadata as md
import openbb_core
core_version = md.version("openbb-core")
for dist in md.distributions():
    name = (dist.metadata["Name"] or "").lower()
    if name.startswith("openbb-") and name != "openbb-core":
        print(name, dist.version)

Try / catch

import warnings
from openbb_core.provider.registry import LoadingError
from openbb_core.app.model.abstract.warning import OpenBBWarning

with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as caught:
    warnings.simplefilter("always")
    from openbb import obb  # triggers registry build
for w in caught:
    if issubclass(w.category, OpenBBWarning) and "Error loading extension" in str(w.message):
        print(f"degraded provider: {w.message}")
# if you need the hard failure, run with DEBUG_MODE=1 and catch LoadingError at startup

Prevention

Upgrade the whole openbb metapackage, never openbb-core alone, so provider extensions stay version-locked
Keep DEBUG_MODE=1 in dev/staging environments to surface the real traceback of broken extensions
Pin exact versions of all openbb-* packages in requirements.txt to avoid partial upgrades
After any pip upgrade, run a smoke test that lists obb.coverage.providers and assert your required providers loaded

When it happens

Trigger: Installing a broken or incompatible provider package (e.g. openbb-yfinance built against an older openbb_core API), a provider package whose module raises on import/entry-point load, or mixed versions after a partial 'pip install -U openbb' that upgrades core but not the provider extensions. Enable DEBUG_MODE=1 to get the LoadingError plus full traceback instead of the warning.

Common situations: Version mismatch between openbb_core and provider extensions after upgrade; a custom in-house provider whose entry point 'openbb_core_extension' or 'openbb_provider_extension' is misdeclared; corrupt virtualenv after upgrading the platform in place.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of OpenBB-finance/OpenBB@3e071fcc2c (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e770ef21c2b9a7b6. Report an issue: GitHub.

Error loading extension: {name} [91m{e}[0m