What causes "Please install wandb using `pip install wandb`" in PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR?

pip install wandb in the active environment.

PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR · error · ModuleNotFoundError

Please install wandb using `pip install wandb`

Error message

Please install wandb using `pip install wandb`

What it means

ModuleNotFoundError raised by WandbLogger.__init__ when the wandb package is not installed in the current environment. PaddleOCR only imports wandb lazily inside the logger, so the failure appears at training startup exactly when the config selects the wandb logger.

Source

Thrown at ppocr/utils/loggers/wandb_logger.py:22


class WandbLogger(BaseLogger):
    def __init__(
        self,
        project=None,
        name=None,
        id=None,
        entity=None,
        save_dir=None,
        config=None,
        **kwargs,
    ):
        try:
            import wandb

            self.wandb = wandb
        except ModuleNotFoundError:
            raise ModuleNotFoundError("Please install wandb using `pip install wandb`")

        self.project = project
        self.name = name
        self.id = id
        self.save_dir = save_dir
        self.config = config
        self.kwargs = kwargs
        self.entity = entity
        self._run = None
        self._wandb_init = dict(
            project=self.project,
            name=self.name,
            id=self.id,
            entity=self.entity,
            dir=self.save_dir,
            resume="allow",
        )
        self._wandb_init.update(**kwargs)

View on GitHub (pinned to 2661c7c0ef)

Solutions

pip install wandb in the active environment.
Or disable wandb in the config (use_wandb: False / remove the wandb logger entry) if experiment tracking is not needed.
For offline machines, pip install wandb on a connected host matching the same Python version and copy the wheel.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

def wandb_available() -> bool:
    try:
        import wandb  # noqa: F401
        return True
    except ModuleNotFoundError:
        return False

if cfg['Global'].get('use_wandb', False) and not wandb_available():
    raise SystemExit('use_wandb is enabled but wandb is missing: pip install wandb (or set use_wandb: False)')

Type guard

def is_wandb_installed() -> bool:
    import importlib.util
    return importlib.util.find_spec('wandb') is not None

Prevention

Declare optional extras in your environment setup (pip install paddleocr[wandb]-style pinning of wandb) when configs enable wandb.
Gate wandb logging behind an availability check so training can proceed without it.

When it happens

Trigger: Setting Global.use_wandb: True (or otherwise instantiating WandbLogger) in an environment where 'import wandb' raises ModuleNotFoundError.

Common situations: Following a training config from a tutorial that enables wandb logging; CI/docker images built from requirements.txt that omit the optional wandb dependency; switching conda/venv environments.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR@2661c7c0ef (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1b1a221d5777ad1a. Report an issue: GitHub.