Bug description
When using bring your own DB, the superset-init-db k8s main job breaks under this error:
pgrading DB schema...
Loaded your LOCAL configuration at [/app/pythonpath/superset_config.py]
2025-09-17 12:41:33,296:ERROR:superset.app:Failed to create app
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/superset/app.py", line 40, in create_app
app_initializer.init_app()
[...]
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1685, in invoke
super().invoke(ctx)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1434, in invoke
return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 783, in invoke
return __callback(*args, **kwargs)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/decorators.py", line 33, in new_func
return f(get_current_context(), *args, **kwargs)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/flask/cli.py", line 355, in decorator
app = __ctx.ensure_object(ScriptInfo).load_app()
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/flask/cli.py", line 309, in load_app
app = locate_app(import_name, name)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/flask/cli.py", line 238, in locate_app
return find_app_by_string(module, app_name)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/flask/cli.py", line 166, in find_app_by_string
app = attr(*args, **kwargs)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/superset/app.py", line 40, in create_app
app_initializer.init_app()
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/superset/initialization/__init__.py", line 466, in init_app
self.setup_db()
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/superset/initialization/__init__.py", line 662, in setup_db
pessimistic_connection_handling(db.engine)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/flask_sqlalchemy/__init__.py", line 998, in engine
return self.get_engine()
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/flask_sqlalchemy/__init__.py", line 1017, in get_engine
return connector.get_engine()
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/flask_sqlalchemy/__init__.py", line 594, in get_engine
self._engine = rv = self._sa.create_engine(sa_url, options)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/flask_sqlalchemy/__init__.py", line 1027, in create_engine
return sqlalchemy.create_engine(sa_url, **engine_opts)
File "<string>", line 2, in create_engine
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sqlalchemy/util/deprecations.py", line 375, in warned
return fn(*args, **kwargs)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/create.py", line 544, in create_engine
dbapi = dialect_cls.dbapi(**dbapi_args)
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sqlalchemy/dialects/postgresql/psycopg2.py", line 811, in dbapi
import psycopg2
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'psycopg2'
Comment From: dosubot[bot]
Hi @thatguyatgithub! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the superset team.
This is a known issue: the default Superset Docker image used by the Helm chart does not include database drivers like psycopg2, which are required to connect to external PostgreSQL databases. You have a few options to resolve this:
- Add a bootstrapScript to your Helm values.yaml to install psycopg2-binary and its system dependencies at container startup. For Superset v5 and newer (which use
uvas the Python package manager), use:
yaml
bootstrapScript: |
#!/bin/bash
apt update && apt install -y gcc libpq-dev python3-dev pkg-config
uv pip install psycopg2-binary
Reference
For older versions, replace uv pip install with pip install.
- Use a custom Docker image that pre-installs psycopg2-binary and any other required drivers. This is recommended for production deployments. Example Dockerfile:
dockerfile
FROM apache/superset:latest
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir psycopg2-binary
Reference
- Use the
-devtagged Superset image (e.g.,apache/superset:latest-dev), which includes common database drivers by default. Reference
Make sure you also disable the internal PostgreSQL by setting postgresql.enabled: false in your values.yaml when using an external DB, and provide your DB connection details under supersetNode.connections (do not set SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI directly) Reference.
This approach should resolve the ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'psycopg2' in your Helm-based deployment.
To reply, just mention @dosu.
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Comment From: rusackas
@villebro we keep seeing issues like this arise. Any idea how to resolve this more permanently? Tempted to bump these to Discussions when they arise, but clearly it's a recurring issue.