Django - cannot import name 'config' from 'decouple'

Question

I'm trying to run this project locally but when i try manage.py makemigrations i keep getting the following error:

ImportError: cannot import name 'config' from 'decouple'

Here are my steps:

1. Clone the repository from github
2. Create a virtual environment
3. Install the dependencies

I made some research but i found nothing about what could be generating that error. Can anyone help me out on this? Thanks in advance!I'm running Django 3.

Selfassured

I'm having this problem too, but I think the solution with the two Decouple modules could be legit. Otherwise, I would say try using something else. Currently I use Decouple for the .env environment variables in Django and so I hope it works, I've tried other situations like the environ module (which doesn't work). Remember to put .env in your .gitignore though, otherwise you could expose your secret key. If a better answer/solution pops up I'd love to find it. EDIT: Yes, this does work on Windows at least (with Django 3.3) and so thank you Stack Overflow – Ciracirca

Answer 1

You might have decouple installed in additional to python-decouple (two different packages).

If that is the case simply uninstall decouple

pip uninstall decouple

And ensure you have python-decouple installed

pip install python-decouple

Merl

Thank you! Packages developers should seriously solve this – Unrobe

This is why you should always install dependencies from requirements.txt @RamiAlloush – Refection

might also want to try with pip3 install python-decouple – Frizette

conda install -c conda-forge python-decouple works too :) – Explore

Answer 2

The error happens because your python interpreter is looking for python-decouple package instead of decouple

Uninstall the existing package using this command pip uninstall decouple

And then install
pip install python-decouple

Trajectory

The procedure worked. I did unistall the decouple package then installed the python-decouple – Sweetening

Answer 3

It shows the error because you have not installed the python-decouple module. Just run:

pip uninstall decouple

Then try

pip install python-decouple

Wigfall

Welcome to Stack Overflow! You should always wrap commands in a code block to make them easier to read. Also, there are other reasons this could be happening, so please take the time to research and suggest other possible solutions as well. – Everybody

Answer 4

It shows the error because you are not installed the module python-decouple Just run pip install -r requirements.txt If it won't work then try it in env

pip install python-decouple

Sherrill

Weird thing is that i installed Decouple but i still keep getting the error – Selfassured

Answer 5

I struggled with this for a good hour, the fix was to close the current bash/terminal window and opening a new one.

Gabler

Answer 6

I was using pipenv to create a virtual environment and run the Django project

pipenv install -r requiremnts.txt
pipenv shell
python manage.py runserver

Interestingly above method kept throwing error that it cannot import config from decouple

then I tried:

python -m venv myEnv
myEnv/Scripts/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python manage.py runserver

and this ran the project successfully. I didnt understand why this would happen as I am doing pretty much same just using pip instead of pipenv.

Footworn

Answer 7

I encountered the same issue, and in my case, it was caused by a conflict between "decouple" and "python-decouple" packages (I had installed both of them by mistake). As the latter creates a file called "decouple.py" in the installation virtual environment, finding the package of the same name, this will confuse the Django app of which of the 2 decouple reference it will consider. To fix this I had to uninstall the "decouple" package with pipenv uninstall decouple and install the "python-decouple" package with pipenv install python-decouple.

...

class AutoConfig(object):
    """
    Autodetects the config file and type.

    Parameters
    ----------
    search_path : str, optional
        Initial search path. If empty, the default search path is the
        caller's path.

    """
    ...

# A pré-instantiated AutoConfig to improve decouple's usability
# now just import config and start using with no configuration.
config = AutoConfig()

# Helpers
...

Wham

Answer 8

After trying almost everything, installing the python-decouple for the whole system, as opposed to in an environment, worked for me. So left the virtual environment, installed python-decouple then activated back my environment again. It works for me.

Let me know if this helps.

Dicentra

Answer 9

In my case, the issue was with the selection of interpreter. In Visual Studio Code, CMD+Shift+P and type: 'Select Interpreter', and then select the correct interpreter for the virtual environment.

Canso