xtekky/gpt4free · warning · MissingRequirementsError

Install "ddgs" and "beautifulsoup4" | pip install -U g4f[sea

Error message

Install "ddgs" and "beautifulsoup4" | pip install -U g4f[search]

What it means

MissingRequirementsError raised by the DDGS search provider (DDGS.py:212) when the optional search extras are not installed: the module-level has_requirements flag is False because importing 'ddgs' and/or 'beautifulsoup4' failed. g4f keeps web-search support optional, so the provider refuses to run and tells you the exact pip extra to install.

Source

Thrown at g4f/Provider/search/DDGS.py:212

    working = has_requirements

    @classmethod
    async def create_async_generator(
        cls,
        model: str,
        messages: Messages,
        prompt: str = None,
        proxy: str = None,
        timeout: int = 30,
        region: str = None,
        backend: str = None,
        max_results: int = 5,
        max_words: int = 2500,
        add_text: bool = True,
        **kwargs,
    ) -> AsyncResult:
        if not has_requirements:
            raise MissingRequirementsError(
                'Install "ddgs" and "beautifulsoup4" | pip install -U g4f[search]'
            )

        prompt = format_media_prompt(messages, prompt)
        results: List[SearchResultEntry] = []

        # Use the new DDGS() context manager style
        with DDGSClient() as ddgs:
            for result in ddgs.text(
                prompt,
                region=region,
                safesearch="moderate",
                timelimit="y",
                max_results=max_results,
                backend=backend,
            ):
                if ".google." in result["href"]:
                    continue

View on GitHub (pinned to 973504e177)

Solutions

Install the search extra: pip install -U g4f[search]
Or install directly: pip install -U ddgs beautifulsoup4
Rebuild your Docker image with the extra included
Verify with: python -c "import ddgs, bs4; print('ok')"

Example fix

# before
pip install g4f

# after
pip install -U "g4f[search]"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

def search_deps_available() -> bool:
    try:
        import ddgs  # noqa: F401
        import bs4  # noqa: F401
        return True
    except ImportError:
        return False

if not search_deps_available():
    raise SystemExit("Missing search deps: pip install -U g4f[search]")

Type guard

def has_ddgs_requirements() -> bool:
    try:
        import ddgs, bs4
        return True
    except ImportError:
        return False

Try / catch

from g4f.errors import MissingRequirementsError
try:
    async for r in DDGS.create_async_generator(model, messages):
        ...
except MissingRequirementsError:
    subprocess.check_call([sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "-U", "g4f[search]"])
    raise

Prevention

Install extras at deploy time: pip install -U g4f[search]
Add an import smoke test for ddgs/bs4 to CI
Note the package was renamed (duckduckgo_search → ddgs); old pins break

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking DDGS.create_async_generator (directly or via a model request with web search enabled) in an environment where 'import ddgs' or 'import bs4' raises ImportError, flipping has_requirements to False.

Common situations: Base install (pip install g4f) without extras; Docker images built from slim templates; dependency pruned by a resolver conflict; library name changed across g4f versions (duckduckgo_search → ddgs).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of xtekky/gpt4free@973504e177 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/904aed5d6bbe9435. Report an issue: GitHub.