huggingface/transformers · error · ImportError

You need to install rich to use the chat interface. (`pip in

Error message

You need to install rich to use the chat interface. (`pip install rich`)

What it means

The `transformers chat` command renders its interface with the rich library, which is an optional dependency. ChatInterface.__init__ (via its run path) checks is_rich_available() and raises ImportError telling you to `pip install rich` when it is missing. Without rich there is no usable terminal UI, so the command aborts before connecting.

Source

Thrown at src/transformers/cli/chat.py:379

        config.update(do_sample=True, max_new_tokens=256)  # some default values
        config.update(**parse_generate_flags(generate_flags))
        self.config = config

        self.settings = {"base_url": base_url, "model_id": model_id, "config": self.config.to_dict()}

        # User settings
        self.user = user if user is not None else get_username()

        # Load examples
        if examples_path:
            with open(examples_path) as f:
                self.examples = yaml.safe_load(f)
        else:
            self.examples = DEFAULT_EXAMPLES

        # Check requirements
        if not is_rich_available():
            raise ImportError("You need to install rich to use the chat interface. (`pip install rich`)")

        # Run chat session
        asyncio.run(self._inner_run())

    @staticmethod
    def check_health(url):
        health_url = urljoin(get_service_root_url(url) + "/", "health")
        try:
            output = httpx.get(health_url)
            if output.status_code != 200:
                raise ValueError(
                    f"The server running on {url} returned status code {output.status_code} on health check (/health)."
                )
        except httpx.ConnectError:
            raise ValueError(
                f"No server currently running on {url}. To run a local server, please run `transformers serve` in a"
                f"separate shell. Find more information here: https://huggingface.co/docs/transformers/serving"
            )

View on GitHub (pinned to a597f97485)

Solutions

1. pip install rich
2. Or install the serving extras which include UI deps: pip install "transformers[serving]"
3. Re-run transformers chat

Example fix

# before
transformers chat  # ImportError: need rich

# after
pip install rich
transformers chat

try:
    import rich  # noqa
except ImportError:
    raise SystemExit("pip install rich (or transformers[serving]) before using transformers chat")

When it happens

Trigger: Running `transformers chat` in an environment where transformers was installed without optional UI extras and rich is absent; slim Docker images; poetry/uv lock files that dropped rich.

Common situations: Minimal production containers; a fresh venv with only `pip install transformers`; rich removed during dependency pruning or a conflict-resolution downgrade.

Related errors

• Missing dependencies for serving. Install with `pip install
• You need to install `libcst` to run this command -> `pip ins
• Unknown error
• The server running on {url} returned status code {output.sta
• No server currently running on {url}. To run a local server,

AI-assisted analysis of huggingface/transformers@a597f97485 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c92111212c830cee. Report an issue: GitHub.