#854·localGPT

Backend fails with ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'cgi'

Author: sammcjCreated Jul 16, 2025Updated Jul 22, 2026

Looks like the code might be relying on the old python CGI module which was deprecated and removed from Python 3.13 onwards.

10:10:24 [SYSTEM] INFO: ✅ rag-api started successfully (PID: 28085)
10:10:24 [SYSTEM] INFO:  Starting backend on port 8000...
10:10:24 [BACKEND] INFO: Traceback (most recent call last):
10:10:24 [BACKEND] INFO: File "/Users/samm/localGPT/backend/server.py", line 4, in <module>
10:10:24 [BACKEND] INFO: import cgi
10:10:24 [BACKEND] INFO: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'cgi'
10:10:26 [SYSTEM] ERROR: ❌ backend failed to start
10:10:26 [SYSTEM] INFO:  Starting frontend on port 3000...
10:10:26 [FRONTEND] INFO: > [email protected] dev
10:10:26 [FRONTEND] INFO: > next dev
10:10:29 [FRONTEND] INFO: ▲ Next.js 15.3.3
10:10:29 [FRONTEND] INFO: - Local:        http://localhost:3000
10:10:29 [FRONTEND] INFO: - Network:      http://192.168.0.223:3000
10:10:29 [FRONTEND] INFO: ✓ Starting...
10:10:30 [FRONTEND] INFO: ✓ Ready in 1334ms
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO: ✅ frontend started successfully (PID: 28118)
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] ERROR: ❌ Failed to start required services: backend
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] ERROR: ❌ System startup failed
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO:  Shutting down RAG system...
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO:  Stopping frontend...
10:10:31 [FRONTEND] INFO:
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO: ✅ frontend stopped
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO:  Stopping backend...
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO: ✅ backend stopped
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO:  Stopping rag-api...
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO: ✅ rag-api stopped
10:10:31 [SYSTEM] INFO: ✅ All services stopped

There is a temporary workaround of pip install legacy-cgi but the proper solution is probably to remove the dependency by refactoring the code that uses it.