Importerror cannot import name 'baseresponse' from 'werkzeug.wrappers'

Importerror: cannot import name ‘baseresponse’ from ‘werkzeug.wrappers’

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Being a developer, chances are high to encounter the “ImportError: cannot import name ‘BaseResponse’ from ‘werkzeug.wrappers'” error at some point.

This error typically occurs when trying to import the “BaseResponse” class from the “werkzeug.wrappers” module.

In this article, we’ll explore some common reasons why this error might occur, as well as some potential solutions to fix it.

What is Importerror: cannot import name ‘baseresponse’ from ‘werkzeug.wrappers’

The “ImportError: cannot import name ‘BaseResponse’ from ‘werkzeug.wrappers'” is an error you get when you import BaseResponse and BaseRequest.

It is because it has been deprecated starting werkzeug version 2.1.0. To fix the error, pin your werkzeug version to 2.0.3.

The next section is an example to understand the error better.

Example of cannot import name ‘baseresponse’ from ‘werkzeug.wrappers’

Let’s say you have a Python script named main.py.

Thus in that script, you try to import the baseresponse module from the werkzeug.wrappers package like this:

from werkzeug.wrappers import baseresponse

If there is an issue with the installation of the Werkzeug library or there is a version incompatibility, you may encounter the following error:

ImportError cannot import name 'baseresponse' from 'werkzeug.wrappers' error

Based on the error it implies that the baseresponse module could not be imported from the werkzeug.wrappers package.

Now let’s discover what are the reasons why we get this error.

Causes of this Importerror

We collected here the list of causes of Importerror: cannot import name ‘baseresponse’ from ‘werkzeug.wrappers’.

Here are the following:

  • If the Werkzeug library is not installed correctly, or the installation is corrupted.
  • If the version of the Werkzeug library that you are using is not compatible with the code that is trying to import baseresponse.
  • If there is a typo or misspelling in the import statement for baseresponse.
  • Circular dependencies between modules can also cause import errors.
  • If the file path for the Werkzeug library or the module that is trying to import baseresponse is incorrect.

Solutions to fix Importerror: cannot import name ‘baseresponse’ from ‘werkzeug.wrappers’

Here are some of the solutions you can use to fix the error depending on what’s works best for you.

1. Check the version of Werkzeug

Make sure that you have installed the latest version of Werkzeug or the version that is compatible with the code that you are trying to run.

To check the version use this command.

import werkzeug
print(werkzeug.__version__)

If your version is outdated update it using pip.

pip install --upgrade Werkzeug

But if it is in a higher version you must downgrade it to 2.0.03 which is the last version that exports BaseResponse and BaseRequest.

2. Update the werkzeug module to version 2.0.03

This time, open the terminal and update the werkzeug package to version 2.0.3.

Which is the last version that exports BaseResponse and BaseRequest.

Here is the following command:

pip install werkzeug==2.0.3
pip3 install werkzeug==2.0.3

# 📌 if Python is not in PATH
python -m pip install werkzeug==2.0.3
python3 -m pip install werkzeug==2.0.3

# 📌 py alias (Windows)
py -m pip install werkzeug==2.0.3

# 📌 for Jupyter Notebook
!pip install werkzeug==2.0.3

Meanwhile, if the requirements.txt file is present, then you can specify the werkzeug version as follows:

werkzeug==2.0.3

Once you downgraded the package, the import to BaseResponse and BaseRequest should work again.

3. Update Flask-lambda if you use the package

If you are using the flask-lambda package and you got the error, try upgrading its version.

Here are the following commands to install. 

pip install flask-lambda --upgrade
pip3 install flask-lambda --upgrade

# 📌 if pip is not in PATH environment variable
python -m pip install flask-lambda --upgrade
python3 -m pip install flask-lambda --upgrade

#  📌️ py alias (Windows)
py -m pip install flask-lambda --upgrade

# 📌 for Jupyter Notebook
!pip install flask-lambda --upgrade

4. Update the import statement to use Request or Response

If you’re making your code using werkzeug directly, you can correct your import statement as follows:

# from:  werkzeug < 2.1.0
from werkzeug.wrappers import BaseResponse, BaseRequest

# to: werkzeug version > 2.0.3
from werkzeug.wrappers import Response, Request

Alternatively, you can use a try/except statement to support both versions.

try:
    # 📌 runs if werkzeug version is < 2.1.0
    from werkzeug.wrappers import BaseResponse
except ImportError:
    # 📌 runs if werkzeug version is > 2.0.3
    from werkzeug.wrappers import Response as BaseResponse

print(BaseResponse)

In the code above the try statement tries to import BaseResponse from werkzeug.wrappers (version < 2.1.0).

However, if the attempt fails, the except block runs and imports Response aliasing it to BaseResponse (version > 2.0.3).

Here is the output:

<class 'werkzeug.wrappers.base_response.BaseResponse'>

If none of the solutions above works, I suggest to update all packages of the Python environment.

5. Update all packages of the Python environment

Since the most direct way is to update all outdated packages, then you are going to utilize Python script.

Here is the script you can use to update all packages.

import pkg_resources
from subprocess import call

packages = [dist.project_name for dist in pkg_resources.working_set]
call("pip install --upgrade " + ' '.join(packages), shell=True)

Since you already now know the solutions to this error, here are the tips or the things to keep in mind when doing import in your code.

Tips to avoid Importerror

Here are some tips to avoid encountering an ImportError:

  • Double-check installation and version compatibility
  • Verify import statements for typos or errors
  • Avoid circular dependencies between modules
  • Use virtual environments to isolate environments
  • Use relative imports for modules within the project
  • Keep code organized and modular with a clear API

Conclusion

To conclude, the werkzeug package has been deprecated in version 2.1.0. Thus the BaseRequest and BaseResponse modules were removed and changed to Request and Response respectively.

Hence you will get the error when you try to import on your code.

To solve the error upgrade to the latest version of werkzeug or downgrade to version 2.0.x.

That’s all for this article. I hope this tutorial helped fix the error.

Until next time! 😊