packaging missing some modules

[golgitab]

First Check

• I added a very descriptive title here.
• I have checked the FAQs for a similar question and didn't find it.
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Example Code

nicegui-pack --onefile --name "myapp" main.py

Description

Hi everyone!

I have encountered a problem when building an exe file of my app.
I understand it's probably not related to NiceGUI itself, but i hope i find some help here.

Issue is when the exe file is built i get error:

importlib.metadata.PackageNotFoundError: No package metadata was found for tortoise-orm
[PYI-11512] Failed to execute script 'main' due to unhandled exception!

I tried to add hidden imports into spec file and run it from pyinstaller command directly. It didn't work

hiddenimports=[
'tortoise',
'tortoise.orm',
'tortoise.models',
'tortoise.fields',
'tortoise.backends',
'tortoise.exceptions',
'tortoise.contrib',
'tortoise.contrib.pydantic',
]

is there any ideas on that?

NiceGUI Version

2.21.1

Python Version

3.11.9

Browser

Chrome, Edge

Operating System

Windows

Additional Context

No response

[falkoschindler]

Hi @golgitab, GPT-5 says:

---

Yep—this is a classic PyInstaller packaging hiccup, not a NiceGUI issue.

Why it happens

tortoise-orm (PyPI distribution name) provides package metadata that importlib.metadata reads at runtime. In a one-file PyInstaller build, that metadata isn’t bundled by default, so importlib.metadata.distribution("tortoise-orm") fails with:

importlib.metadata.PackageNotFoundError: No package metadata was found for tortoise-orm

Two solid fixes

1) Do it all from the command line (quickest)

Use PyInstaller’s collection flags to include the metadata, data files, and any dynamically imported submodules:

pyinstaller \
  --onefile \
  --name myapp \
  --copy-metadata tortoise-orm \
  --collect-submodules tortoise \
  --collect-data tortoise \
  main.py

That’s usually enough. Keep your current hiddenimports if you want, but --collect-submodules tortoise typically makes them unnecessary.

2) Put it into your .spec (repeatable)

If you maintain a spec file, add metadata, data, and submodules explicitly:

# myapp.spec
from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import copy_metadata, collect_submodules, collect_data_files
from PyInstaller.building.build_main import Analysis, PYZ, EXE
from PyInstaller.building.datastruct import TOC

tortoise_hidden = collect_submodules('tortoise')
tortoise_data   = collect_data_files('tortoise')
tortoise_meta   = copy_metadata('tortoise-orm')

a = Analysis(
    ['main.py'],
    pathex=[],
    binaries=[],
    datas=tortoise_data + tortoise_meta,
    hiddenimports=tortoise_hidden,
    # ... keep your other Analysis args ...
)

pyz = PYZ(a.pure, a.zipped_data, cipher=None)

exe = EXE(
    pyz,
    a.scripts,
    a.binaries,
    a.zipfiles,
    a.datas,
    name='myapp',
    console=False,     # or True if you want a console
)

Build with:

pyinstaller myapp.spec

Notes and gotchas

• Make sure the package is installed as tortoise-orm (that’s the PyPI name), and you import it as tortoise in code—that mismatch is why we need --copy-metadata tortoise-orm.
• If you reference models via strings (e.g., "app.models"), PyInstaller may miss them; --collect-submodules tortoise helps, but you may still need to add your own app modules to hidden imports: --collect-submodules app.
• Use a clean virtualenv when building to avoid dragging in unrelated packages.

If you paste your current .spec, I can fold these changes into it directly.

[golgitab]

Hi @falkoschindler, as usual you are my savior!
Unfortunately, I don't have access to GPT-5. QWEN couldn't help me.

After that problem went away i encountered a new one which is probably related to NiceGUI more than previous. Program couldn't fine sad_face.svg file from NiceGUI static folder

Solved applying similar approach:

from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import copy_metadata, collect_submodules, collect_data_files
from PyInstaller.building.build_main import Analysis, PYZ, EXE
from PyInstaller.building.datastruct import TOC

tortoise_hidden = collect_submodules('tortoise')
tortoise_data   = collect_data_files('tortoise')
tortoise_meta   = copy_metadata('tortoise-orm')
nicegui_data = collect_data_files('nicegui')
nicegui_hidden = collect_submodules('nicegui')

a = Analysis(
    ['main.py'],
    pathex=[],
    binaries=[],
    datas=tortoise_data + tortoise_meta + nicegui_data,
    hiddenimports=tortoise_hidden + nicegui_hidden,
    # ... keep your other Analysis args ...
)

pyz = PYZ(a.pure, a.zipped_data, cipher=None)

exe = EXE(
    pyz,
    a.scripts,
    a.binaries,
    a.zipfiles,
    a.datas,
    name='myapp',
    console=False,     # or True if you want a console
)

Hope it would help someone sometime