microsoft/autogen · error · ImportError

To use Redis Memory RedisVL must be installed. Run `pip inst

Error message

To use Redis Memory RedisVL must be installed. Run `pip install autogen-ext[redisvl]`

What it means

RedisMemory depends on the redisvl package (plus redis), which is an optional dependency shipped as the autogen-ext[redisvl] extra. Importing autogen_ext.memory.redis without it raises ImportError with the exact pip command needed. This is the standard optional-dependency gate pattern used across autogen-ext.

Source

Thrown at python/packages/autogen-ext/src/autogen_ext/memory/redis/_redis_memory.py:18

import logging
from typing import Any, List, Literal

from autogen_core import CancellationToken, Component
from autogen_core.memory import Memory, MemoryContent, MemoryMimeType, MemoryQueryResult, UpdateContextResult
from autogen_core.model_context import ChatCompletionContext
from autogen_core.models import SystemMessage
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

try:
    from redis import Redis
    from redisvl.extensions.message_history import MessageHistory, SemanticMessageHistory
    from redisvl.utils.utils import deserialize, serialize
    from redisvl.utils.vectorize import HFTextVectorizer
except ImportError as e:
    raise ImportError("To use Redis Memory RedisVL must be installed. Run `pip install autogen-ext[redisvl]`") from e


class RedisMemoryConfig(BaseModel):
    """
    Configuration for Redis-based vector memory.

    This class defines the configuration options for using Redis as a vector memory store,
    supporting semantic memory. It allows customization of the Redis connection, index settings,
    similarity search parameters, and embedding model.
    """

    redis_url: str = Field(default="redis://localhost:6379", description="url of the Redis instance")
    index_name: str = Field(default="chat_history", description="Name of the Redis collection")
    prefix: str = Field(default="memory", description="prefix of the Redis collection")
    sequential: bool = Field(
        default=False, description="ignore semantic similarity and simply return memories in sequential order"
    )
    distance_metric: Literal["cosine", "ip", "l2"] = "cosine"

View on GitHub (pinned to 027ecf0a37)

Solutions

Install the extra: pip install autogen-ext[redisvl].
Or install the dependency directly: pip install redisvl.
Add the extra to requirements.txt/pyproject so environments are reproducible.

Example fix

# before
# ImportError: To use Redis Memory RedisVL must be installed...
from autogen_ext.memory.redis import RedisMemory

# after (shell)
# pip install autogen-ext[redisvl]
from autogen_ext.memory.redis import RedisMemory

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

try:
    import redisvl  # noqa: F401
    HAVE_REDISVL = True
except ImportError:
    HAVE_REDISVL = False

if not HAVE_REDISVL:
    raise SystemExit('Run: pip install autogen-ext[redisvl]')

Try / catch

try:
    from autogen_ext.memory.redis import RedisMemory
except ImportError as e:
    if 'redisvl' in str(e):
        LOG.error('missing optional dep; run pip install autogen-ext[redisvl]')
        raise SystemExit(2) from e
    raise

Prevention

Pin autogen-ext[redisvl] in requirements/pyproject
Fail at process start with the install hint instead of mid-run
Include extras in Docker/CI environment definitions

When it happens

Trigger: import autogen_ext.memory.redis (or any module transitively importing it) without redisvl installed; a fresh environment where autogen-ext was installed without extras; partial installs where redis is present but redisvl is not.

Common situations: New project scaffolding that copies a RedisMemory example; Docker images built from a slim requirements list without the extra; CI cache serving an environment created before RedisMemory was added to the codebase.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/autogen@027ecf0a37 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/85bf2d29fb500d5d. Report an issue: GitHub.