[BUG] Installation Issues Encountered by New Users and Developers

[yuki-2025]

Required prerequisites

• I have read the documentation https://camel-ai.github.io/camel/camel.html.
• I have searched the Issue Tracker and Discussions that this hasn't already been reported. (+1 or comment there if it has.)
• Consider asking first in a Discussion.

What version of camel are you using?

0.1.1

System information

python 3.11.8 (tags/v3.11.8:db85d51, Feb 6 2024, 22:03:32) [MSC v.1937 64 bit (AMD64)] win32

Problem description

I have tried two different roles in attempting to install the camel-ai package and have encountered the problem described below. I hope any expert can help address this issue.

To differentiate between a normal user and a developer user, I refer to the normal user as 'User' and the developers of our camel project as 'Developer'. The main issue concerns dependency problems; strict environments might affect both user and developer experiences.

I followed the instructions in the wiki or readme and tested the installation on two different PCs, and encountered the problems described below: (Note: The use of an ipynb file is just to facilitate showing the problem and is not related to actual development.)

Reproducible example code

For Beginner User
I followed the installation instructions as a user:
https://github.com/camel-ai/camel/wiki/Installation-and-Setup and https://github.com/camel-ai/camel

1. pip does not work with Python 3.12 and above.
   
   Solution: Install the Python 3.11 version of the kernel; it is not a significant problem.

2. After executing 'pip install all', normal users are still unable to use the library; they cannot run 'role_playing.py'. It seems that pip alone might not be sufficient for normal users. Executing pip install 'camel-ai[all]' results in the same problem. (ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'docstring_parser')
   

   $\textcolor{red}{\textsf{Solution: So far, I have not been able to find an alternative. I believe the only way forward is to install from the source.}}$

---

For Beginner Developer
I followed the instructions to install as a developer.
https://github.com/camel-ai/camel/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md

# Clone github repo
git clone https://github.com/camel-ai/camel.git

# Change directory into project directory
cd camel

# Activate camel virtual environment
poetry shell

# Install camel from source
# It takes about 75s to resolve dependencies and 10s to install them, depending on your hardware and network,
poetry install --with dev,docs

# Or if you want to use all other extra packages
poetry install --with dev,docs -E all  # (Optional)

# The following command installs a pre-commit hook into the local git repo,
# so every commit gets auto-formatted and linted.
pre-commit install

# Run camel's unit tests
pytest test

# Exit the virtual environment
exit

1. You might encounter a poetry problem after performing a git clone.

Solution: For Windows users, you cannot install your Python kernel via the Microsoft App Store, and installing Conda will not resolve the issue either. Simply installing Python 3.11 directly from python.org is sufficient.

2. I encountered a Torch library error when executing code, even after successfully initiating a Poetry shell.
   
   Solution Attempted: Despite running pip install torch, the problem persists.

3. I encountered 74 errors in pytest after successfully executing poetry install and pre-commit install.
   

   $\textcolor{red}{\textsf{Solution: I tried to installed qdrant but same errors. At this point, I am not sure how to resolve this issue.}}$

Traceback

No response

Expected behavior

No response

Additional context

No response

[Wendong-Fan]

issue solved by cleaning python env

[yuki-2025]

This problem is not related to the cleanliness of the environment, as I am using two newly formatted PCs. The issue arises from the numerous specific environmental restrictions, such as the requirement to use Python 3.10 to run Poetry, which is not supported by another kernel.

Any update refer to:
https://github.com/orgs/camel-ai/discussions/466