django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading MySQLdb module. Did you install mysqlclient?

Using Django Mystery Errors
1

❯ python3 manage.py runserver
Watching for file changes with StatReloader
Exception in thread django-main-thread:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py”, line 16, in
import MySQLdb as Database
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/MySQLdb/init.py”, line 17, in
from . import _mysql
ImportError: dlopen(/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/MySQLdb/_mysql.cpython-312-darwin.so, 0x0002): symbol not found in flat namespace ‘_mysql_affected_rows’

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/threading.py”, line 1073, in _bootstrap_inner
self.run()
File “/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/threading.py”, line 1010, in run
self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py”, line 64, in wrapper
fn(*args, **kwargs)
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py”, line 126, in inner_run
autoreload.raise_last_exception()
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py”, line 87, in raise_last_exception
raise _exception[1]
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/core/management/init.py”, line 394, in execute
autoreload.check_errors(django.setup)()
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py”, line 64, in wrapper
fn(*args, **kwargs)
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/init.py”, line 24, in setup
apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py”, line 116, in populate
app_config.import_models()
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/apps/config.py”, line 269, in import_models
self.models_module = import_module(models_module_name)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/importlib/init.py”, line 90, in import_module
return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “”, line 1387, in _gcd_import
File “”, line 1360, in _find_and_load
File “”, line 1331, in _find_and_load_unlocked
File “”, line 935, in _load_unlocked
File “”, line 995, in exec_module
File “”, line 488, in _call_with_frames_removed
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/models.py”, line 5, in
from django.contrib.auth.base_user import AbstractBaseUser, BaseUserManager
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/contrib/auth/base_user.py”, line 40, in
class AbstractBaseUser(models.Model):
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py”, line 143, in new
new_class.add_to_class(“_meta”, Options(meta, app_label))
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/base.py”, line 371, in add_to_class
value.contribute_to_class(cls, name)
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/models/options.py”, line 231, in contribute_to_class
self.db_table, connection.ops.max_name_length()
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/utils/connection.py”, line 15, in getattr
return getattr(self._connections[self._alias], item)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/utils/connection.py”, line 62, in getitem
conn = self.create_connection(alias)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/utils.py”, line 193, in create_connection
backend = load_backend(db[“ENGINE”])
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/utils.py”, line 113, in load_backend
return import_module(“%s.base” % backend_name)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/importlib/init.py”, line 90, in import_module
return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File “/Users/sagar/Development/private_share_backend/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py”, line 18, in
raise ImproperlyConfigured(
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading MySQLdb module.
Did you install mysqlclient?

2

Welcome @sagar1343 !

This error message seems quite straight forward, both the cause and the answer.

Do you have a question here?

3

Hi @KenWhitesell ,

I’m having trouble installing mysqlclient on my macOS machine. Despite reinstalling MySQL, the error persists. I’ve tried several troubleshooting steps without success. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

  1. Installed MySQL using Homebrew.

  2. Installed mysql-client using Homebrew and exported the necessary paths.

  3. Navigated to my project directory and ran pipenv install mysqlclient. While it installed successfully, the same error continues to appear.

4

I run into this error pretty regularly on macOS after upgrading (or downgrading) MySQL using homebrew. The error message is confusing, because I have installed the mysqlclient Python package—it’s just failing to load properly.

The problem is your pip cache has a mysqlclient built with the wrong MySQL version, and pip keeps reinstalling that.

To fix, force pip to rebuild it ignoring the cache:

pip install --force --no-cache mysqlclient==<version>
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