You.com Python SDK

2.3.0 verified Fri May 01 auth: no python

The official Python SDK for You.com, providing access to You.com's AI chat, code generation, and search APIs. Current version 2.3.0, requires Python >=3.10. Follows monthly release cadence.

pip install youdotcom

Common errors

error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'youdotcom.api' ↓

cause Import path changed in v2.0; youdotcom.api no longer exists.

fix

Use from youdotcom import YouClient instead.

error TypeError: __init__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'api_key' ↓

cause Older SDK expected api_key as positional argument or via env var only.

fix

Upgrade to v2.3.0 which supports YouClient(api_key='...'). If using older version, set env var YOU_API_KEY.

error AttributeError: 'YouClient' object has no attribute 'chat' ↓

cause Trying to access chat endpoint on a non-chat client or older version.

fix

Ensure you are using YouClient (not other clients) and version >=2.0.

error ValueError: API key not provided. Set YOU_API_KEY environment variable. ↓

cause Missing API key.

fix

Set environment variable YOU_API_KEY or pass api_key to YouClient constructor.

error pydantic.error_wrappers.ValidationError: 1 validation error for ChatCompletionRequest model field required (type=value_error.missing) ↓

cause model parameter is required since v2.2.0+.

fix

Add model='gpt-4' (or similar) to the create method call.

Warnings

breaking In v2.0, the SDK dropped support for Python 3.9 and below. Upgrade to Python >=3.10. ↓

fix Require Python 3.10+ and upgrade youdotcom to latest.

breaking Import paths changed in v2.0. YouClient and models are now directly under `youdotcom`, not `youdotcom.api` or `youdotcom.models`. ↓

fix Use `from youdotcom import YouClient, ChatCompletion` instead of old submodule imports.

deprecated The method `youclient.chat.completions.create` now requires explicit `model` parameter; default model is deprecated and will be removed. ↓

fix Always specify a model string, e.g., `model='gpt-4'`.

gotcha API key must be set via environment variable `YOU_API_KEY` or passed directly. SDK does not read from .env automatically. ↓

fix Use `YouClient(api_key='your-key')` or export `YOU_API_KEY`.

gotcha The SDK uses httpx internally; proxies and custom timeouts must be configured via httpx client options, not directly on YouClient. ↓

fix Create an httpx.AsyncClient with desired settings and pass it as `http_client` parameter to YouClient/AsyncYouClient.

Imports

YouClient
wrong
```
from youdotcom.api import YouClient
```
correct
```
from youdotcom import YouClient
```
In v2.x, the main client is directly under youdotcom. The api submodule was removed in v2.0.
ChatCompletion
wrong
```
from youdotcom.models import ChatCompletion
```
correct
```
from youdotcom import ChatCompletion
```
Models are now exported at package level, not from a models submodule (changed in v2.0).

AsyncYouClient

wrong

from youdotcom.async_client import AsyncYouClient

correct

from youdotcom import AsyncYouClient

Async client is exported at package level since v2.0.

Quickstart

Initialize the client with an API key and make a simple chat request.

import os
from youdotcom import YouClient

client = YouClient(api_key=os.environ.get('YOU_API_KEY', ''))
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model='gpt-4',
    messages=[{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Hello, how are you?'}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)