microsoft/autogen · error · ValueError

Could not find AutoGen repo base. Please set the environment

Error message

Could not find AutoGen repo base. Please set the environment variable AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE to the correct value.

What it means

Raised when AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE is unset and the automatic search (find_autogen_repo from the current working directory upward) failed to locate an AutoGen repository checkout. The benchmark needs the repo to mount it into the benchmark container, so a ValueError with remediation instructions is thrown.

Source

Thrown at python/packages/agbench/src/agbench/run_cmd.py:591

    . ./global_finalize.sh
fi

echo RUN.SH COMPLETE !#!#
"""
        )

    # Figure out what folders to mount
    volumes = {str(pathlib.Path(work_dir).absolute()): {"bind": "/workspace", "mode": "rw"}}

    # Add the autogen repo if we can find it
    autogen_repo_base = os.environ.get("AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE")
    if autogen_repo_base is None:
        autogen_repo_base = find_autogen_repo(os.getcwd())
    elif not os.path.isdir(autogen_repo_base):
        raise FileNotFoundError(errno.ENOENT, os.strerror(errno.ENOENT), autogen_repo_base)

    if autogen_repo_base is None:
        raise ValueError(
            "Could not find AutoGen repo base. Please set the environment variable AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE to the correct value."
        )

    autogen_repo_base = os.path.join(autogen_repo_base, "python")
    volumes[str(pathlib.Path(autogen_repo_base).absolute())] = {"bind": "/autogen_python", "mode": "rw"}

    # Add the Docker socket if we are running on Linux
    # This allows docker-out-of-docker to work, but provides access to the Docker daemon on the host.
    # This maintains good isolation for experiment purposes (e.g., ensuring consistent initial conditions),
    # but deminishes the security benefits of using Docker (e.g., when facing a deliberately malicious agent).
    # since it would allow clients to mount privalaged images, volumes, etc.
    docker_host = os.environ.get("DOCKER_HOST", "unix:///var/run/docker.sock")
    if docker_host.startswith("unix://"):
        docker_socket = os.path.abspath(docker_host[7:])
        if os.path.exists(docker_socket):
            st_mode = os.stat(docker_socket).st_mode
            if stat.S_ISSOCK(st_mode):
                volumes[docker_socket] = {"bind": "/var/run/docker.sock", "mode": "rw"}

View on GitHub (pinned to 027ecf0a37)

Solutions

Set the environment variable explicitly: export AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE=/path/to/autogen (repo root containing the 'python' package dir).
Or cd into a directory inside your AutoGen checkout before running so the upward search finds it.
Verify the search target: ensure the checkout actually contains the markers find_autogen_repo looks for (e.g. the python/ subdirectory).

Example fix

# before
agbench run /data/bench.jsonl  # run from ~/results, no autogen ancestor

# after
export AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE=/home/me/src/autogen
agbench run /data/bench.jsonl

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import os, subprocess
if "AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE" not in os.environ:
    root = subprocess.run(["git", "rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"], capture_output=True, text=True)
    if root.returncode == 0:
        os.environ["AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE"] = root.stdout.strip()

Try / catch

try:
    run_benchmark(...)
except ValueError as e:
    if "AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE" in str(e):
        os.environ["AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE"] = "/path/to/autogen"
        run_benchmark(...)
    else:
        raise

Prevention

Always set AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE explicitly in scripts and CI instead of relying on directory-walk discovery.
Run agbench from inside the AutoGen checkout when the variable is unset.

When it happens

Trigger: Running agbench from a directory outside any AutoGen checkout with AUTOGEN_REPO_BASE unset, e.g. running from a scratch results directory or a cloned benchmark-only repo.

Common situations: Running the CLI from an arbitrary cwd (home dir, /tmp), fresh machines where the autogen repo is cloned somewhere the search does not reach, or CI jobs that check out only the benchmark package.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/autogen@027ecf0a37 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/955efb93b151d7fb. Report an issue: GitHub.