CodeBox: auto-install does not work — import of missing packages raises ModuleNotFoundError

[yingjunwu]

Description

The documentation claims CodeBox automatically detects and installs missing packages (code-execution.mdx Step 2, quickstart-python.mdx, core-concepts.mdx). In practice, this does not work — importing a package not present in python:slim raises ModuleNotFoundError.

Reproduction

import asyncio
import boxlite

async def main():
    async with boxlite.CodeBox() as codebox:
        result = await codebox.run("""
import requests
response = requests.get('https://api.github.com/zen')
print(response.text)
""")
        print(result)

asyncio.run(main())

Expected

CodeBox detects import requests, installs requests via pip, then re-runs the code.

Actual

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'requests'

Environment

• boxlite 0.5.10
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Python 3.12

Notes

install_package("requests") works fine when called explicitly. The issue is specifically the auto-detection + auto-install feature.

[yingjunwu]

Triage: ✅ Confirmed — P2, Documentation bug

This is a documentation lie, not a code bug. There is zero auto-install logic in CodeBox. run() simply calls python -c <code> — no import parsing, no pip install, no retry.

The install_package() and install_packages() methods work fine for explicit installation. The issue is that docs falsely claim auto-detection.

Recommended fix: Update documentation to remove the false auto-install claim. If auto-install is actually desired as a feature, it would be a moderate implementation effort (parse ModuleNotFoundError, pip install, retry).

Severity: Medium — misleading docs frustrate users, but install_package() provides a clear workaround.