Circular import: importing data_designer.engine.models.errors (or .registry) first raises ImportError #990

Priority Level

Medium (Annoying but has workaround)

Describe the bug

In a fresh interpreter, import data_designer.engine.models.errors fails with:

ImportError: cannot import name 'FormattedLLMErrorMessage' from partially initialized module 'data_designer.engine.models.errors' (most likely due to a circular import)

import data_designer.engine.models.registry fails the same way, because it imports errors first. Importing almost any other Data Designer module first (data_designer.interface, data_designer.engine.models, ...models.facade, ...models.factory, ...models.clients) loads the modules in an order that avoids the cycle. So whether the import works depends on what the process happened to import earlier.

data_designer.engine.models.errors defines the model exception classes (ModelRateLimitError, ModelAuthenticationError, ModelContextWindowExceededError, and so on), and they aren't re-exported anywhere else. Code that catches them, such as a plugin, a script or a test module, crashes on import when this is its first Data Designer import. In test suites that shows up as failures that depend on collection order.

Steps/Code to reproduce bug

python -c "import data_designer.engine.models.errors"

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
    import data_designer.engine.models.errors
  File ".../data_designer/engine/models/errors.py", line 14, in <module>
    from data_designer.engine.models.clients.errors import ProviderError, ProviderErrorKind, SyncClientUnavailableError
  File ".../data_designer/engine/models/clients/__init__.py", line 14, in <module>
    from data_designer.engine.models.clients.factory import create_model_client
  File ".../data_designer/engine/models/clients/factory.py", line 15, in <module>
    from data_designer.engine.models.errors import FormattedLLMErrorMessage
ImportError: cannot import name 'FormattedLLMErrorMessage' from partially initialized module 'data_designer.engine.models.errors' (most likely due to a circular import) (.../data_designer/engine/models/errors.py)

python -c "import data_designer.engine.models.registry" fails with the same traceback. Importing another module first works around it:

python -c "import data_designer.engine.models.factory; import data_designer.engine.models.errors"

Reproduced on data-designer 0.9.3 and on main at f9aff6e (built from source).

Expected behavior

Every module imports successfully regardless of which Data Designer module the process imports first.

Agent Diagnostic / Prior Investigation

The cycle (at f9aff6e):

1. engine/models/errors.py L14 imports engine.models.clients.errors, which first executes the clients package __init__.
2. engine/models/clients/__init__.py L14 eagerly imports create_model_client from clients.factory.
3. engine/models/clients/factory.py L15 imports FormattedLLMErrorMessage from engine.models.errors, which is still on its line 14, so the class (defined at L155) doesn't exist yet. factory.py uses it in one place (L100).

registry.py imports errors at L11, so it enters the same cycle.

#781 fixed a regression caused by this same cycle. Its first revision made create_model_client a lazy export in clients/__init__.py, which broke the cycle. The merged version instead removed the health-check script's direct import of engine.models.errors and reverted the lazy export. The cycle itself is still present, so the error returns whenever errors or registry is the first module imported. The fresh-process test in tests/test_lazy_imports.py covers the health-check script's entry point, not this import order.

Additional context

Possible fixes, not mutually exclusive:

1. Smallest: in clients/factory.py, import FormattedLLMErrorMessage inside the function that uses it, with a short comment explaining why the import is deferred.
2. Remove the edge: move FormattedLLMErrorMessage into a module that doesn't import clients (for example next to GenerationTruncationReason in engine/models/utils.py), and re-export it from errors.py for compatibility.
3. Public import path: if engine.* is meant to stay internal, re-export the model exception classes from a public module (such as data_designer.interface), so downstream code never has to import engine.models.errors to catch them. That would fit the boundary direction taken in fix: break health check import cycle #781.

Regression coverage: a parametrized fresh-process test (the _run_python_snippet helper in tests/test_lazy_imports.py already does this) that imports each module under data_designer.engine.models as the very first import.

Happy to contribute a PR for whichever direction is preferred.

Checklist

• I reproduced this issue or provided a minimal example
• I searched the docs/issues myself, or had my agent do so
• If I used an agent, I included its diagnostics above