microsoft/autogen · warning · ValueError

Pip install was cancelled

Error message

Pip install was cancelled

What it means

Raised during LocalCommandLineCodeExecutor function setup when the pip install subprocess future/task is cancelled - either via the CancellationToken passed to execute_code_blocks (linked through cancellation_token.link_future) or by cancelling the surrounding task - and asyncio.CancelledError is caught and rewrapped as ValueError.

Source

Thrown at python/packages/autogen-ext/src/autogen_ext/code_executors/local/__init__.py:309

                py_executable = sys.executable

            task = asyncio.create_task(
                asyncio.create_subprocess_exec(
                    py_executable,
                    *cmd_args,
                    cwd=self.work_dir,
                    stdout=asyncio.subprocess.PIPE,
                    stderr=asyncio.subprocess.PIPE,
                )
            )
            cancellation_token.link_future(task)
            try:
                proc = await task
                stdout, stderr = await asyncio.wait_for(proc.communicate(), self._timeout)
            except asyncio.TimeoutError as e:
                raise ValueError("Pip install timed out") from e
            except asyncio.CancelledError as e:
                raise ValueError("Pip install was cancelled") from e

            if proc.returncode is not None and proc.returncode != 0:
                raise ValueError(f"Pip install failed. {stdout.decode()}, {stderr.decode()}")

        # Attempt to load the function file to check for syntax errors, imports etc.
        exec_result = await self._execute_code_dont_check_setup(
            [CodeBlock(code=func_file_content, language="python")], cancellation_token
        )

        if exec_result.exit_code != 0:
            raise ValueError(f"Functions failed to load: {exec_result.output}")

        self._setup_functions_complete = True

    async def execute_code_blocks(
        self, code_blocks: List[CodeBlock], cancellation_token: CancellationToken
    ) -> CommandLineCodeResult:
        """(Experimental) Execute the code blocks and return the result.

View on GitHub (pinned to 027ecf0a37)

Solutions

1. If cancellation was intentional, no fix is needed - treat it as a clean abort and handle the ValueError in the caller.
2. Trigger setup earlier by calling execute_code_blocks with a trivial block before exposing cancellation controls to users.
3. Raise the executor timeout so setup is not externally cancelled as 'stuck'.

Example fix

# before
token = CancellationToken()
task = asyncio.create_task(executor.execute_code_blocks(blocks, token))
token.cancel()  # -> ValueError: Pip install was cancelled

# after
result = await executor.execute_code_blocks(blocks, CancellationToken())
# cancel only for genuine aborts; catch and treat as aborted:
#   except ValueError as e: ... if 'cancelled' in str(e): handle_abort()

try:
    await executor.execute_code_blocks(blocks, token)
except ValueError as e:
    if "Pip install was cancelled" in str(e):
        return AbortedResult()  # treat as a clean user abort
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Cancelling the CancellationToken that was passed to execute_code_blocks while the deferred pip install of function dependencies is still running; shutting down the event loop or cancelling the surrounding task during the first code execution.

Common situations: User aborts or shuts down an agent session during the first code block (when lazy setup runs), orchestration layers with global timeouts that cancel in-flight tasks, tests cancelling tokens to simulate user aborts.

Related errors

• Pip install timed out
• Pip install failed. {stdout.decode()}, {stderr.decode()}
• The team is already running, it cannot run again until it is
• The group chat is currently running. It must be stopped befo
• The team cannot be loaded while it is running.

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/autogen@027ecf0a37 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8fe6f0c67d832d05. Report an issue: GitHub.