ImportError: cannot import name 'QUAL_PALETTES'

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR: you have two seaborn installs (usually one from conda and one from pip) fighting in one environment. Remove every copy, then install seaborn exactly once.

The error

ImportError: cannot import name 'QUAL_PALETTES'

Fix it

1. Remove seaborn with both installers, repeatedly until both say it is gone:

   pip uninstall -y seaborn
   conda remove -y seaborn

   Repeat until pip show seaborn and conda list seaborn both report nothing.

2. Install exactly once. Pick one:

   pip install seaborn

   or conda install -c conda-forge seaborn. Expected: a single install.

3. Verify:

   python -c "import seaborn; print(seaborn.__version__)"

   Expected: prints the version, no error.

When this applies

Use this when import seaborn raises the QUAL_PALETTES error and the env mixes conda and pip installs.

When it does not apply

If only one installer ever touched the env, the install may just be corrupt; a single reinstall suffices. If the error names a different symbol, check version compatibility instead.

Compatibility

Any seaborn version; this is an environment-hygiene issue.

Root cause

seaborn's core module imports QUALPALETTES from its own palettes module. With two versions' files interleaved in site-packages, the import machinery assembles a Frankenstein package whose modules do not match, and the name lookup fails.

Edge cases

After cleanup, audit other packages for the same double-install pattern (matplotlib and numpy are frequent repeat offenders). Prefer one installer per environment going forward.

GitHub issue ai4finance-llc/finrl#231 reports ImportError: cannot import name 'QUAL_PALETTES' when importing seaborn. The verified diagnosis in the linked seaborn thread (mwaskom/seaborn#2521): the environment had two seaborn installs at once (0.11.1 via pip and 0.8 via conda), and the mixed files broke the import. The fix that worked was removing seaborn with both installers until none remained, then installing it exactly once. Sources: https://github.com/ai4finance-llc/finrl/issues/231 and https://github.com/mwaskom/seaborn/issues/2521