newrelic

library13.5.0pypypi✓ verified 26d ago

Official APM agent for Python applications. Auto-instruments web frameworks (FastAPI, Django, Flask), databases (SQLAlchemy, psycopg, asyncpg), Redis, external HTTP calls, and AI/LLM libraries. Current version is 11.4.0 (Jan 2026). v12.0.0 released March 2026 with breaking removals.

observability web-framework database http-networking ai-ml

pip install newrelic

github ↗package ↗homepage ↗changelog ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · NEWRELIC

newrelic

observabilitypythonv13.5.0

Install

2.4s avg

Import

623ms

Disk

23MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v13.5.0 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.910 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.646s · 24.8MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.910 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 2.4s · import 0.600s · 25MB

23MB installed

● package 23MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

initialize

✓ import newrelic.agent

✗ from newrelic import initialize

Agent initialization patterns. CLI wrapper is preferred. Manual init requires initialize() before all other imports.

# Option 1: CLI wrapper (recommended — handles ordering automatically) # NEW_RELIC_CONFIG_FILE=newrelic.ini newrelic-admin run-program gunicorn myapp.wsgi # Option 2: Manual init — must be absolute first lines of entry point import newrelic.agent newrelic.agent.initialize('newrelic.ini') # Framework imports AFTER initialize() from fastapi import FastAPI app = FastAPI()

newrelic-admin --version

Debug

Known issues

breakinginitialize() must be called before ALL other imports. Placing it after framework or library imports silently disables instrumentation — no exception is raised, agent appears to load but instruments nothing.

fix

Use newrelic-admin run-program wrapper, or place initialize() as the first two lines of your entry point before any other import.

affects: all

breakingCross Application Tracing (CAT) fully removed in v12.0.0. Was deprecated since v7.0.0. Old tutorials and LLM-generated code using cross_application_tracer config keys will silently do nothing.

fix

Use Distributed Tracing (DT) instead. Remove cross_application_tracer settings from newrelic.ini.

affects: < 12.0.0

breakingPython 3.8 support dropped in v12.0.0 (Python 3.8 EOL was Oct 2024).

fix

Pin to newrelic<12.0.0 if still on Python 3.8, or upgrade Python.

affects: < 12.0.0

deprecatedaioredis instrumentation deprecated. The aioredis package itself is abandoned. New Relic will remove this instrumentation in a future release.

fix

Use redis>=4.2 with redis.asyncio submodule. New Relic auto-instruments redis.asyncio.

affects: all

deprecatedConfiguring agent via WSGI environ dictionary is deprecated.

fix

Use environment variables (NEW_RELIC_LICENSE_KEY, NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME, etc.) or newrelic.ini config file.

affects: all

gotchaSSL certificates no longer bundled in v12.0.0. Environments without system CA certs (minimal Docker images) will fail to connect to New Relic.

fix

pip install newrelic[certificates]

affects: >= 12.0.0

breakingNew Relic agent initialization failed because the specified configuration file (e.g., 'newrelic.ini') could not be found or was inaccessible.

fix

Ensure the configuration file is present in the current working directory, specified by an absolute path, or use environment variables for configuration (NEW_RELIC_LICENSE_KEY, NEW_RELIC_APP_NAME, etc.) or a newrelic.ini config file managed by the deployment.

affects: all

breakingCalling `newrelic.agent.initialize(config_file)` requires the specified configuration file to exist and be accessible at the provided path. If the file is not found or cannot be read, a `newrelic.api.exceptions.ConfigurationError` will be raised.

fix

Ensure the 'newrelic.ini' configuration file is present in the application's working directory, or provide its absolute path to `newrelic.agent.initialize()`.

affects: all

Upgrade

Version history

13.5.0latest on PyPI · released Aug 21, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

newrelic[certificates]optionalSSL certificates no longer bundled in v12.0.0. Required in environments without system certs.

Agent activity

20 hits · last 30 days

node

OpenAI (training)

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/newrelic/newrelic-python-agent ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/newrelic/ ↗

homepagehttps://docs.newrelic.com/docs/apm/agents/python-agent/ ↗

changeloghttps://docs.newrelic.com/docs/release-notes/agent-release-notes/python-release-notes/ ↗