# Fix "Missing dependencies for SOCKS support" in Requests, pip and HTTPX

Source: https://ipvolt.com/guides/fix-missing-dependencies-for-socks-support
Markdown: https://ipvolt.com/guides/fix-missing-dependencies-for-socks-support.md

[Home](https://ipvolt.com/index.md) / [Guides](https://ipvolt.com/guides.md) / [Fix "Missing dependencies for SOCKS support" in Requests, pip and HTTPX](https://ipvolt.com/guides/fix-missing-dependencies-for-socks-support.md)

Category: Troubleshooting
Published: 2026-10-05
Reading time: 7 minutes
Author: ipvolt

Fix InvalidSchema: Missing dependencies for SOCKS support in Python Requests, pip and HTTPX. Install requests[socks], or clear the ALL_PROXY variable behind it.

`Missing dependencies for SOCKS support` means Requests was given a SOCKS proxy URL, such as `socks5://` or `socks5h://`, and could not `import socks`, the module that PySocks installs, in the Python that is running. Requests raises it before opening any connection, so the proxy has not been contacted yet.

The proxy URL doesn't have to be in your code: Requests also takes it from `ALL_PROXY` or `all_proxy` in the environment. And pip runs on its own bundled copy of Requests, so with that variable set, `pip install pysocks` stops with the same message.

| What you see | Cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `requests.exceptions.InvalidSchema: Missing dependencies for SOCKS support.` and your code sets a SOCKS proxy | PySocks is not importable from this Python | Fix 1: `python -m pip install "requests[socks]"` |
| The same error, and your code sets no proxy | `ALL_PROXY` or another proxy variable holds a SOCKS URL | Fix 2: unset the variable, or install PySocks |
| `ERROR: Could not install packages due to an OSError: Missing dependencies for SOCKS support.` | pip read the same variable | Fix 3: clear it for that one command |
| `AttributeError: module 'socks' has no attribute 'PROXY_TYPE_SOCKS5'` | Your own `socks.py` or `socks/` package is imported instead of PySocks | Fix 4: rename it |
| `ImportError: Using SOCKS proxy, but the 'socksio' package is not installed.` | HTTPX needs socksio, not PySocks | `python -m pip install "httpx[socks]"` |

The results below were recorded on 5 October 2026 with Requests 2.34.2, HTTPX 0.28.1, pip 26.2.1, PySocks 1.7.1 and socksio 1.0.0 on Python 3.13.5 and 3.14.4, with a fresh virtual environment for each case. Both Pythons gave the same results.

## Fix 1: install PySocks into the Python that runs your code

```sh
python -m pip install "requests[socks]"
```

The extra adds one package, PySocks, whose importable module is named `socks`. Installing `pysocks` by name works too. Use `python -m pip`, not a bare `pip`: it installs into the interpreter that the `python` command starts, while a bare `pip` can belong to another environment. In the lab, with `pip` on `PATH` pointing at a second virtual environment, `pip install "requests[socks]"` printed `Successfully installed PySocks-1.7.1` and the script kept raising the same error.

Check the running interpreter:

```sh
python -c "import socks, sys; print(sys.executable, socks.__file__)"
```

It prints the interpreter and the file that `import socks` resolved to, which should be `socks.py` inside that interpreter's `site-packages`. `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'socks'` means PySocks is missing from this Python.

## Fix 2: you never set a proxy

When you pass no `proxies`, Requests builds them from the environment. Its [documentation](https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/advanced/#proxies) names `http_proxy`, `https_proxy`, `no_proxy` and `all_proxy`, plus the uppercase variants. List what your process inherits:

```sh
env | grep -i _proxy
```

In the lab, a script with no proxy in its code raised the error with only `ALL_PROXY=socks5://127.0.0.1:1080` set, and again with only lowercase `all_proxy`. `HTTP_PROXY` holding a `socks5://` URL did the same. [Requests issue #3516](https://github.com/psf/requests/issues/3516) is this case: the reporter's environment contained `all_proxy`, and the code broke on upgrading to Requests 2.11, where a maintainer says support for `all_proxy` began.

If you want the SOCKS proxy, apply fix 1. If you don't, remove the variable where it is set, such as a shell profile or a container image. Four details from the lab:

- An empty value counts as unset. `ALL_PROXY=` gave a direct request and status 200.
- Lowercase wins. With `all_proxy` set and `ALL_PROXY` emptied, the error remained. Emptying `all_proxy` removed it even with `ALL_PROXY` still set. Clear both.
- `ALL_PROXY` is a fallback. With `HTTP_PROXY` also set to an HTTP proxy, a request to an `http://` URL tried that proxy and never touched the SOCKS code.
- Code can opt out. `session.trust_env = False` returned 200 with `ALL_PROXY` still set, and so did adding the host to `NO_PROXY`.

[Proxy environment variables](/guides/proxy-environment-variables) lists which variables each client reads, and the [Python Requests proxy guide](/guides/python-requests-proxy) covers `trust_env`.

## Fix 3: pip fails with Missing dependencies for SOCKS support

pip downloads through a vendored copy of Requests and reads the same variables. With `all_proxy` or `ALL_PROXY` set to a SOCKS URL, in a new virtual environment:

```text
$ python -m pip install "requests[socks]"
WARNING: There was an error checking the latest version of pip.
ERROR: Could not install packages due to an OSError: Missing dependencies for SOCKS support.
```

`pip download` and `pip index versions` ended in a traceback instead, with `pip._vendor.requests.exceptions.InvalidSchema: Missing dependencies for SOCKS support.` as its last line. Clear the variables for that one command:

```sh
ALL_PROXY= all_proxy= python -m pip install "requests[socks]"
```

`env -u ALL_PROXY -u all_proxy` in front of the command worked as well. Clearing only `ALL_PROXY` did not, because `all_proxy` was still set.

Then decide whether the variable should stay exported. With PySocks installed, Requests used the proxy from `ALL_PROXY` and returned 200 through the lab's SOCKS server. pip did not: pip 26.2.1 stopped with `TypeError: PoolKey.__new__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'key_proxy_ssl_context'`, while pip 25.1.1 installed a package through the same proxy. On pip 26.2.1, keep clearing the variable for pip commands, or set the proxy only for the program that needs it.

## Fix 4: AttributeError: module 'socks' has no attribute 'PROXY_TYPE_SOCKS5'

Here `import socks` found something, but not PySocks. Python [searches the script's directory first](https://docs.python.org/3/library/sys_path_init.html), or the current directory for `python -c` and `python -m`, and adds `site-packages` last, so a file or folder of yours named `socks` wins. The check from fix 1 shows what was imported:

| In the directory Python searches first | PySocks installed | Result | The check prints |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `socks.py` | Yes | `AttributeError` | your `socks.py` |
| `socks/` with `__init__.py` | Yes | `AttributeError` | your `socks/__init__.py` |
| `socks/` without `__init__.py` | Yes | Works, status 200 | PySocks in `site-packages` |
| `socks/` without `__init__.py` | No | `AttributeError`, not `InvalidSchema` | `None` |

Rename the file or folder. In the last row, a plain folder named `socks` turned the missing-dependency error into the `AttributeError`, so after renaming it you still need fix 1.

## HTTPX: Using SOCKS proxy, but the 'socksio' package is not installed

HTTPX has its own SOCKS dependency. Without it, HTTPX 0.28.1 raises:

```text
ImportError: Using SOCKS proxy, but the 'socksio' package is not installed. Make sure to install httpx using `pip install httpx[socks]`.
```

```sh
python -m pip install "httpx[socks]"
```

That installed socksio 1.0.0, and the same request returned 200 through the proxy. The other fixes carry over:

- The error appears with `proxy="socks5://..."` in code and with only `ALL_PROXY` or `all_proxy` in the environment. It is raised when the client is built: under `ALL_PROXY`, `httpx.Client()` with no arguments failed before any request.
- An empty `ALL_PROXY` and `trust_env=False` each gave a direct 200.
- The two libraries are not interchangeable. HTTPX with only PySocks installed still raised the `ImportError`, and Requests with only socksio still raised `InvalidSchema`.

To check the import, replace `socks` with `socksio` in the command from fix 1. The [HTTPX async proxy guide](/guides/httpx-async-proxy) has a complete client setup.

## After it imports: choose socks5:// or socks5h:// on purpose

A different error now is progress: with PySocks installed and nothing listening on the proxy port, Requests raised `ConnectionError` with `Connection refused`, a network problem.

The scheme is the next decision. In Requests, `socks5://` resolves the hostname on your machine and `socks5h://` sends it to the proxy, while HTTPX sends the hostname with both. [socks5 vs socks5h: what six clients actually send](/blog/socks5-vs-socks5h) has the logged results for each client, and [HTTP vs SOCKS5 proxies](/guides/http-vs-socks5-proxies) helps if you are still choosing a protocol.

## How this was tested

On Ubuntu 26.04.1, with everything on `127.0.0.1`: `python -m http.server` as the target and a small SOCKS5 relay that logs every request it receives. Each of the 47 cases ran on both Pythons in a fresh virtual environment, an otherwise empty working directory and an empty home directory, with no proxy variables except the ones named in that case. No proxy account was used; the only outbound traffic was pip talking to PyPI. In every failing case the relay logged no connection.

The [lab archive](https://ipvolt.com/downloads/fix-missing-dependencies-for-socks-support/socks-missing-dependencies-lab.zip) contains the [runner](https://ipvolt.com/downloads/fix-missing-dependencies-for-socks-support/run_lab.py), the [SOCKS5 relay](https://ipvolt.com/downloads/fix-missing-dependencies-for-socks-support/socks5_relay.py), the [README](https://ipvolt.com/downloads/fix-missing-dependencies-for-socks-support/README.md) and the [recorded results](https://ipvolt.com/downloads/fix-missing-dependencies-for-socks-support/results.json).

Not tested: macOS and Windows, SOCKS4 and authenticated SOCKS proxies, older releases of Requests and HTTPX, and installers other than pip.

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## Sources & further reading

- [Requests: SOCKS proxies and the requests[socks] extra](https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/advanced/#socks)
- [Requests: proxies and the proxy environment variables](https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/advanced/#proxies)
- [psf/requests issue #3516: Missing dependencies for SOCKS support](https://github.com/psf/requests/issues/3516)
- [HTTPX: proxies and SOCKS](https://www.python-httpx.org/advanced/proxies/)
- [HTTPX: environment variables](https://www.python-httpx.org/environment_variables/)
- [PySocks on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/PySocks/)
- [Python: how the sys.path module search path is initialized](https://docs.python.org/3/library/sys_path_init.html)

## Related guides

- [Proxy environment variables: HTTP_PROXY and NO_PROXY](https://ipvolt.com/guides/proxy-environment-variables.md)
- [Python Requests proxy: proxies dict, auth, SOCKS5](https://ipvolt.com/guides/python-requests-proxy.md)
- [HTTPX async proxies: setup and PoolTimeout diagnosis](https://ipvolt.com/guides/httpx-async-proxy.md)
- [HTTP vs SOCKS5 proxies: choose by the connection](https://ipvolt.com/guides/http-vs-socks5-proxies.md)
- [SSL WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER behind a proxy: which hop failed](https://ipvolt.com/guides/fix-ssl-wrong-version-number-proxy.md)

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