Troubleshoot Python errors in Azure Functions
Following is a list of troubleshooting guides for common issues in Python functions:
Troubleshoot ModuleNotFoundError
This section helps you troubleshoot module-related errors in your Python function app. These errors typically result in the following Azure Functions error message:
Exception: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'module_name'.
This error issue occurs when a Python function app fails to load a Python module. The root cause for this error is one of the following issues:
- The package can't be found
- The package isn't resolved with proper Linux wheel
- The package is incompatible with the Python interpreter version
- The package conflicts with other packages
- The package only supports Windows or macOS platforms
View project files
To identify the actual cause of your issue, you need to get the Python project files that run on your function app. If you don't have the project files on your local computer, you can get them in one of the following ways:
- If the function app has
WEBSITE_RUN_FROM_PACKAGE
app setting and its value is a URL, download the file by copy and paste the URL into your browser. - If the function app has
WEBSITE_RUN_FROM_PACKAGE
and it is set to1
, navigate tohttps://<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/api/vfs/data/SitePackages
and download the file from the latesthref
URL. - If the function app doesn't have the app setting mentioned above, navigate to
https://<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/api/settings
and find the URL underSCM_RUN_FROM_PACKAGE
. Download the file by copy and paste the URL into your browser. - If none of these works for you, navigate to
https://<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/DebugConsole
and reveal the content under/home/site/wwwroot
.
The rest of this article helps you troubleshoot potential causes of this error by inspecting your function app's content, identifying the root cause, and resolving the specific issue.
Diagnose ModuleNotFoundError
This section details potential root causes of module-related errors. After you figure out which is the likely root cause, you can go to the related mitigation.
The package can't be found
Browse to .python_packages/lib/python3.6/site-packages/<package-name>
or .python_packages/lib/site-packages/<package-name>
. If the file path doesn't exist, this missing path is likely the root cause.
Using third-party or outdated tools during deployment may cause this issue.
See Enable remote build or Build native dependencies for mitigation.
The package isn't resolved with proper Linux wheel
Go to .python_packages/lib/python3.6/site-packages/<package-name>-<version>-dist-info
or .python_packages/lib/site-packages/<package-name>-<version>-dist-info
. Use your favorite text editor to open the wheel file and check the Tag: section. If the value of the tag doesn't contain linux, this could be the issue.
Python functions run only on Linux in Azure: Functions runtime v2.x runs on Debian Stretch and the v3.x runtime on Debian Buster. The artifact is expected to contain the correct Linux binaries. Using --build local
flag in Core Tools, third-party, or outdated tools may cause older binaries to be used.
See Enable remote build or Build native dependencies for mitigation.
The package is incompatible with the Python interpreter version
Go to .python_packages/lib/python3.6/site-packages/<package-name>-<version>-dist-info
or .python_packages/lib/site-packages/<package-name>-<version>-dist-info
. Using a text editor, open the METADATA file and check the Classifiers: section. If the section doesn't contains Python :: 3
, Python :: 3.6
, Python :: 3.7
, or Python :: 3.8
, this means the package version is either too old, or most likely, the package is already out of maintenance.
You can check the Python version of your function app from the Azure portal. Navigate to your function app, choose Resource explorer, and select Go.
After the explorer loads, search for LinuxFxVersion, which shows the Python version.
See Update your package to the latest version or Replace the package with equivalents for mitigation.
The package conflicts with other packages
If you have verified that the package is resolved correctly with the proper Linux wheels, there may be a conflict with other packages. In certain packages, the PyPi documentations may clarify the incompatible modules. For example in azure 4.0.0
, there's a statement as follows:
This package isn't compatible with azure-storage. If you installed azure-storage, or if you installed azure 1.x/2.x and didn’t uninstall azure-storage, you must uninstall azure-storage first.
You can find the documentation for your package version in https://pypi.org/project/<package-name>/<package-version>
.
See Update your package to the latest version or Replace the package with equivalents for mitigation.
The package only supports Windows or macOS platforms
Open the requirements.txt
with a text editor and check the package in https://pypi.org/project/<package-name>
. Some packages only run on Windows or macOS platforms. For example, pywin32 only runs on Windows.
The Module Not Found
error may not occur when you're using Windows or macOS for local development. However, the package fails to import on Azure Functions, which uses Linux at runtime. This is likely to be caused by using pip freeze
to export virtual environment into requirements.txt from your Windows or macOS machine during project initialization.
See Replace the package with equivalents or Handcraft requirements.txt for mitigation.
Mitigate ModuleNotFoundError
The following are potential mitigations for module-related issues. Use the diagnoses above to determine which of these mitigations to try.
Enable remote build
Make sure that remote build is enabled. The way that you do this depends on your deployment method.
Make sure that the latest version of the Azure Functions extension for Visual Studio Code is installed. Verify that .vscode/settings.json
exists and it contains the setting "azureFunctions.scmDoBuildDuringDeployment": true
. If not, please create this file with the azureFunctions.scmDoBuildDuringDeployment
setting enabled and redeploy the project.
Build native dependencies
Make sure that the latest version of both docker and Azure Functions Core Tools is installed. Go to your local function project folder, and use func azure functionapp publish <app-name> --build-native-deps
for deployment.
Update your package to the latest version
Browse the latest package version in https://pypi.org/project/<package-name>
and check the Classifiers: section. The package should be OS Independent
, or compatible with POSIX
or POSIX :: Linux
in Operating System. Also, the Programming Language should contains Python :: 3
, Python :: 3.6
, Python :: 3.7
, or Python :: 3.8
.
If these are correct, you can update the package to the latest version by changing the line <package-name>~=<latest-version>
in requirements.txt.
Handcraft requirements.txt
Some developers use pip freeze > requirements.txt
to generate the list of Python packages for their developing environments. Although this convenience should work in most cases, there can be issues in cross-platform deployment scenarios, such as developing functions locally on Windows or macOS, but publishing to a function app, which runs on Linux. In this scenario, pip freeze
can introduce unexpected operating system-specific dependencies or dependencies for your local development environment. These dependencies can break the Python function app when running on Linux.
The best practice is to check the import statement from each .py file in your project source code and only check-in those modules in requirements.txt file. This guarantees the resolution of packages can be handled properly on different operating systems.
Replace the package with equivalents
First, we should take a look into the latest version of the package in https://pypi.org/project/<package-name>
. Usually, this package has their own GitHub page, go to the Issues section on GitHub and search if your issue has been fixed. If so, update the package to the latest version.
Sometimes, the package may have been integrated into Python Standard Library (such as pathlib). If so, since we provide a certain Python distribution in Azure Functions (Python 3.6, Python 3.7, and Python 3.8), the package in your requirements.txt should be removed.
However, if you're facing an issue that it has not been fixed and you're on a deadline. I encourage you to do some research and find a similar package for your project. Usually, the Python community will provide you with a wide variety of similar libraries that you can use.
Troubleshoot cannot import 'cygrpc'
This section helps you troubleshoot 'cygrpc' related errors in your Python function app. These errors typically result in the following Azure Functions error message:
Cannot import name 'cygrpc' from 'grpc._cython'
This error issue occurs when a Python function app fails to start with a proper Python interpreter. The root cause for this error is one of the following issues:
- The Python interpreter mismatches OS architecture
- The Python interpreter is not supported by Azure Functions Python Worker
Diagnose 'cygrpc' reference error
The Python interpreter mismatches OS architecture
This is most likely caused by a 32-bit Python interpreter is installed on your 64-bit operating system.
If you're running on an x64 operating system, please ensure your Python 3.6, 3.7, or 3.8 interpreter is also on 64-bit version.
You can check your Python interpreter bitness by the following commands:
On Windows in PowerShell: py -c 'import platform; print(platform.architecture()[0])'
On Unix-like shell: python3 -c 'import platform; print(platform.architecture()[0])'
If there's a mismatch between Python interpreter bitness and operating system architecture, please download a proper Python interpreter from Python Software Foundation.
The Python interpreter is not supported by Azure Functions Python Worker
The Azure Functions Python Worker only supports Python 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8.
Please check if your Python interpreter matches our expected version by py --version
in Windows or python3 --version
in Unix-like systems. Ensure the return result is Python 3.6.x, Python 3.7.x, or Python 3.8.x.
If your Python interpreter version does not meet our expectation, please download the Python 3.6, 3.7, or 3.8 interpreter from Python Software Foundation.
Next steps
If you're unable to resolve your issue, please report this to the Functions team: