crewAIInc/crewAI · error · ImportError

`boto3` package not found, please run `uv add boto3`

Error message

`boto3` package not found, please run `uv add boto3`

What it means

Raised by S3ReaderTool._run() when the lazy `import boto3` fails — the AWS SDK is not installed in the active environment. crewai-tools lists boto3 only as a package_dependency hint; at runtime the S3 reader imports it inside _run and converts ImportError into this message with the uv add instruction.

Source

Thrown at lib/crewai-tools/src/crewai_tools/aws/s3/reader_tool.py:26

    """Input schema for S3ReaderTool."""

    file_path: str = Field(
        ..., description="S3 file path (e.g., 's3://bucket-name/file-name')"
    )


class S3ReaderTool(BaseTool):
    name: str = "S3 Reader Tool"
    description: str = "Reads a file from Amazon S3 given an S3 file path"
    args_schema: type[BaseModel] = S3ReaderToolInput
    package_dependencies: list[str] = Field(default_factory=lambda: ["boto3"])

    def _run(self, file_path: str) -> str:
        try:
            import boto3
            from botocore.exceptions import ClientError
        except ImportError as e:
            raise ImportError(
                "`boto3` package not found, please run `uv add boto3`"
            ) from e

        try:
            bucket_name, object_key = self._parse_s3_path(file_path)

            s3 = boto3.client(
                "s3",
                region_name=os.getenv("CREW_AWS_REGION", "us-east-1"),
                aws_access_key_id=os.getenv("CREW_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"),
                aws_secret_access_key=os.getenv("CREW_AWS_SEC_ACCESS_KEY"),
            )

            response = s3.get_object(Bucket=bucket_name, Key=object_key)
            result: str = response["Body"].read().decode("utf-8")
            return result

        except ClientError as e:

View on GitHub (pinned to 754d7323be)

Solutions

1. uv add boto3 (or pip install boto3) into the environment running the tool
2. Prefer crewai-tools with AWS extras if your workflow supports it
3. Verify: python -c "import boto3" with the same interpreter
4. Dockerfile: add boto3 to the image requirements

Example fix

# before: tool._run('s3://bucket/key') raises ImportError
# after (shell): uv add boto3 && python -c "import boto3"

try:
    import boto3  # noqa: F401
except ImportError:
    raise SystemExit('S3ReaderTool needs boto3: run `uv add boto3`')

try:
    content = S3ReaderTool()._run('s3://bucket/key')
except ImportError as e:
    if 'boto3' in str(e):
        subprocess.check_call(['uv', 'add', 'boto3'])  # or fail with instructions
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking S3ReaderTool without boto3 in the interpreter: minimal pip install of crewai-tools, a slim container, or a different venv than the one where boto3 was installed.

Common situations: First use of the S3 tools in a project; CI pipelines installing only core dependencies; local venv vs system Python mismatch.

Related errors

• `boto3` package not found, please run `uv add boto3`
• boto3 is required for Bedrock S3 file uploads. Install with:
• `boto3` package not found, please run `uv add boto3`
• aioboto3 is required for async Bedrock S3 file uploads. Inst
• `boto3` package not found, please run `uv add boto3`

AI-assisted analysis of crewAIInc/crewAI@754d7323be (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d651cc3f6fb5e861. Report an issue: GitHub.