Boltz installation failure

[Elaine Meng]

The following bug report has been submitted:
Platform:        macOS-15.5-arm64-arm-64bit
ChimeraX Version: 1.11.dev202506122310 (2025-06-12 23:10:41 UTC)
Description
First I got an error that said to install a new boltz.  Then when I used the suggested command to install it, I got a failure message.

Log:
> open /Users/meng/Desktop/startup.cxc

> alias reset view orient; view initial

> alias start tool show $1

> alias whereprefs info path user unversioned config

> alias captut open help:user/tutorials/binding-sites.html#cap-example

> alias previewts toolshed url https://cxtoolshed-
> preview.rbvi.ucsf.edu;toolshed reload available

> alias normalts toolshed url https://cxtoolshed.rbvi.ucsf.edu;toolshed reload
> available

> alias btut open
> https://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/meng/chimerax/vdocs/user/tutorials/binding-
> sites.html; ui dockable false "Help Viewer"

> alias stut open https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/data/conservation-
> coloring/conservation-coloring.html; ui dockable false "Help Viewer"

> alias ltut open https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/data/loop-modeling/loop-
> modeling.html; ui dockable false "Help Viewer"

> alias mtut open https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/data/mole-channel/mole-
> channel.html; ui dockable false "Help Viewer"; windowsize 600 800

executed startup.cxc  
UCSF ChimeraX version: 1.11.dev202506122310 (2025-06-12)  
© 2016-2025 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.  
How to cite UCSF ChimeraX  

> open 1zik format mmcif fromDatabase pdb

1zik title:  
GCN4-leucine zipper core mutant ASN16LYS In the dimeric state [more info...]  
  
Chain information for 1zik #1  
---  
Chain | Description | UniProt  
A B | GENERAL CONTROL PROTEIN GCN4 | GCN4_YEAST 1-33  
  

> boltz predict protein MKALTQRPLD recycles 10

Running Boltz prediction of protein with 10 residues on gpu  
Using multiple sequence alignment server https://api.colabfold.com  
Please cite Boltz-1 Democratizing Biomolecular Interaction Modeling. BioRxiv
https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.19.624167 if you use these predictions.  
The installed Boltz does not have the --no_potentials option. You need to
install a newer Boltz to get this option. Use the ChimeraX command "boltz
install ~/boltz_new" to install it.  

> boltz install /Users/meng/boltz_new

Successfully created Boltz Python virtual environment /Users/meng/boltz_new.  
Now installing Boltz and required packages from PyPi. This may take tens of of
minutes since Boltz uses many other packages totaling about 1 Gbyte of disk
space including torch, scipy, rdkit, llvmlite, sympy, pandas, numpy, wandb,
numba...  
/Users/meng/boltz_new/bin/python -m pip install
git+https://github.com/RBVI/boltz@chimerax  
Collecting git+https://github.com/RBVI/boltz@chimerax  
  
Cloning https://github.com/RBVI/boltz (to revision chimerax) to
/private/var/folders/5y/hlccmqph8xj29d001s70mt7r0000gr/T/pip-req-
build-f9p4zsqm  
  
error: subprocess-exited-with-error  
  
  
  
× git version did not run successfully.  
  
│ exit code: 69  
  
╰─> [2 lines of output]  
  
You have not agreed to the Xcode license agreements. Please run 'sudo
xcodebuild -license' from within a Terminal window to review and agree to the
Xcode and Apple SDKs license.  
  
[end of output]  
  
  
  
note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem
with pip.  
  
error: subprocess-exited-with-error  
  
  
  
× git version did not run successfully.  
  
│ exit code: 69  
  
╰─> See above for output.  
  
  
  
note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem
with pip.  
  
  
  
[notice] A new release of pip is available: 23.1.2 -> 25.1.1  
  
[notice] To update, run: /Users/meng/boltz_new/bin/python -m pip install
--upgrade pip  
  
Boltz installation failed. See ChimeraX Log for details.  




OpenGL version: 4.1 Metal - 89.4
OpenGL renderer: Apple M1 Pro
OpenGL vendor: Apple

Python: 3.11.4
Locale: en_US.UTF-8
Qt version: PyQt6 6.8.1, Qt 6.8.2
Qt runtime version: 6.8.2
Qt platform: cocoa
Hardware:

    Hardware Overview:

      Model Name: MacBook Pro
      Model Identifier: MacBookPro18,1
      Model Number: MK1F3LL/A
      Chip: Apple M1 Pro
      Total Number of Cores: 10 (8 performance and 2 efficiency)
      Memory: 16 GB
      System Firmware Version: 11881.121.1
      OS Loader Version: 11881.121.1

Software:

    System Software Overview:

      System Version: macOS 15.5 (24F74)
      Kernel Version: Darwin 24.5.0
      Time since boot: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Graphics/Displays:

    Apple M1 Pro:

      Chipset Model: Apple M1 Pro
      Type: GPU
      Bus: Built-In
      Total Number of Cores: 16
      Vendor: Apple (0x106b)
      Metal Support: Metal 3
      Displays:
        Color LCD:
          Display Type: Built-in Liquid Retina XDR Display
          Resolution: 3456 x 2234 Retina
          Main Display: Yes
          Mirror: Off
          Online: Yes
          Automatically Adjust Brightness: Yes
          Connection Type: Internal


Installed Packages:
    alabaster: 1.0.0
    appdirs: 1.4.4
    appnope: 0.1.4
    asttokens: 3.0.0
    auditwheel: 6.4.0
    babel: 2.17.0
    beautifulsoup4: 4.13.3
    blockdiag: 3.0.0
    blosc2: 3.3.4
    build: 1.2.2.post1
    certifi: 2023.11.17
    cftime: 1.6.4.post1
    charset-normalizer: 3.4.2
    ChimeraX-AddCharge: 1.5.19
    ChimeraX-AddH: 2.2.7
    ChimeraX-AlignmentAlgorithms: 2.0.2
    ChimeraX-AlignmentHdrs: 3.6.1
    ChimeraX-AlignmentMatrices: 2.1
    ChimeraX-Alignments: 3.0
    ChimeraX-AlphaFold: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-AltlocExplorer: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-AmberInfo: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Aniso: 1.3.1
    ChimeraX-Arrays: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Atomic: 1.60.9
    ChimeraX-AtomicLibrary: 14.1.19
    ChimeraX-AtomSearch: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-AxesPlanes: 2.4
    ChimeraX-BasicActions: 1.1.3
    ChimeraX-BILD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BlastProtein: 3.0.0
    ChimeraX-Boltz: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BondRot: 2.0.4
    ChimeraX-BugReporter: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-BuildStructure: 2.13.1
    ChimeraX-Bumps: 1.0
    ChimeraX-BundleBuilder: 1.5.1
    ChimeraX-ButtonPanel: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-CageBuilder: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-CellPack: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Centroids: 1.4
    ChimeraX-ChangeChains: 1.1
    ChimeraX-CheckWaters: 1.5
    ChimeraX-ChemGroup: 2.0.2
    ChimeraX-Clashes: 2.3
    ChimeraX-ColorActions: 1.0.5
    ChimeraX-ColorGlobe: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ColorKey: 1.5.8
    ChimeraX-CommandLine: 1.3.0
    ChimeraX-ConnectStructure: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-Contacts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Core: 1.11.dev202506122310
    ChimeraX-CoreFormats: 1.2
    ChimeraX-coulombic: 1.4.5
    ChimeraX-Crosslinks: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Crystal: 1.0
    ChimeraX-CrystalContacts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-DataFormats: 1.2.4
    ChimeraX-Dicom: 1.2.7
    ChimeraX-DistMonitor: 1.4.2
    ChimeraX-DockPrep: 1.1.4
    ChimeraX-Dssp: 2.0
    ChimeraX-EMDB-SFF: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ESMFold: 1.0
    ChimeraX-FileHistory: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-FunctionKey: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Geometry: 1.3
    ChimeraX-gltf: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Graphics: 1.4.1
    ChimeraX-Hbonds: 2.5.1
    ChimeraX-Help: 1.3
    ChimeraX-HKCage: 1.3
    ChimeraX-IHM: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ImageFormats: 1.2
    ChimeraX-IMOD: 1.0
    ChimeraX-IO: 1.0.4
    ChimeraX-ItemsInspection: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-IUPAC: 1.0
    ChimeraX-KVFinder: 1.7
    ChimeraX-Label: 1.1.14
    ChimeraX-ListInfo: 1.2.2
    ChimeraX-Log: 1.2
    ChimeraX-LookingGlass: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Maestro: 1.9.1
    ChimeraX-Map: 1.3
    ChimeraX-MapData: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapEraser: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-MapFilter: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-MapFit: 2.0
    ChimeraX-MapSeries: 2.1.1
    ChimeraX-Markers: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Mask: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-MatchMaker: 2.2.2
    ChimeraX-MCopy: 1.0
    ChimeraX-MDcrds: 2.11
    ChimeraX-MedicalToolbar: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Meeting: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-MLP: 1.1.1
    ChimeraX-mmCIF: 2.16
    ChimeraX-MMTF: 2.2
    ChimeraX-ModelArchive: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Modeller: 1.5.19
    ChimeraX-ModelPanel: 1.5.1
    ChimeraX-ModelSeries: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Mol2: 2.0.3
    ChimeraX-Mole: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Morph: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-MouseModes: 1.2
    ChimeraX-Movie: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-MutationScores: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Neuron: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Nifti: 1.2
    ChimeraX-NMRSTAR: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-NRRD: 1.2
    ChimeraX-Nucleotides: 2.0.3
    ChimeraX-OpenCommand: 1.15.1
    ChimeraX-OrthoPick: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-PDB: 2.7.10
    ChimeraX-PDBBio: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-PDBLibrary: 1.0.4
    ChimeraX-PDBMatrices: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PickBlobs: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Positions: 1.0
    ChimeraX-PresetMgr: 1.1.3
    ChimeraX-ProfileGrids: 1.1.3
    ChimeraX-PubChem: 2.2
    ChimeraX-QScore: 1.2
    ChimeraX-ReadPbonds: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Registration: 1.1.2
    ChimeraX-RemoteControl: 1.0
    ChimeraX-RenderByAttr: 1.6.3
    ChimeraX-RenumberResidues: 1.1
    ChimeraX-ResidueFit: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-RestServer: 1.3.1
    ChimeraX-RNALayout: 1.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibMgr: 4.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsDunbrack: 2.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsDynameomics: 2.0
    ChimeraX-RotamerLibsRichardson: 2.0
    ChimeraX-SaveCommand: 1.5.2
    ChimeraX-SchemeMgr: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SDF: 2.0.3
    ChimeraX-Segger: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Segment: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Segmentations: 3.5.7
    ChimeraX-SelInspector: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SeqView: 2.17.2
    ChimeraX-Shape: 1.1
    ChimeraX-Shell: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Shortcuts: 1.2.1
    ChimeraX-ShowSequences: 1.0.3
    ChimeraX-SideView: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-SimilarStructures: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Smiles: 2.1.2
    ChimeraX-SmoothLines: 1.0
    ChimeraX-SpaceNavigator: 1.0
    ChimeraX-StdCommands: 1.19.1
    ChimeraX-STL: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Storm: 1.0
    ChimeraX-StructMeasure: 1.2.1
    ChimeraX-Struts: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-Surface: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-SwapAA: 2.0.1
    ChimeraX-SwapRes: 2.5.2
    ChimeraX-TapeMeasure: 1.0
    ChimeraX-TaskManager: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Test: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Toolbar: 1.2.3
    ChimeraX-ToolshedUtils: 1.2.4
    ChimeraX-Topography: 1.0
    ChimeraX-ToQuest: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Tug: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-UI: 1.46.1
    ChimeraX-Umap: 1.0
    ChimeraX-uniprot: 2.3.1
    ChimeraX-UnitCell: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-ViewDock: 0.1
    ChimeraX-VIPERdb: 1.0
    ChimeraX-Vive: 1.1
    ChimeraX-VolumeMenu: 1.0.1
    ChimeraX-vrml: 1.0
    ChimeraX-VTK: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WavefrontOBJ: 1.0
    ChimeraX-WebCam: 1.0.2
    ChimeraX-WebServices: 1.1.5
    ChimeraX-Zone: 1.0.1
    colorama: 0.4.6
    comm: 0.2.2
    contourpy: 1.3.2
    coverage: 7.9.0
    cxservices: 1.2.3
    cycler: 0.12.1
    Cython: 3.0.12
    debugpy: 1.8.14
    decorator: 5.2.1
    docutils: 0.21.2
    executing: 2.2.0
    filelock: 3.18.0
    fonttools: 4.58.2
    funcparserlib: 2.0.0a0
    glfw: 2.9.0
    grako: 3.16.5
    h5py: 3.14.0
    html2text: 2024.2.26
    idna: 3.10
    ihm: 2.2
    imagecodecs: 2024.6.1
    imagesize: 1.4.1
    iniconfig: 2.1.0
    ipykernel: 6.29.5
    ipython: 8.26.0
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    jedi: 0.19.1
    Jinja2: 3.1.6
    joblib: 1.5.0
    jupyter_client: 8.6.3
    jupyter_core: 5.8.1
    jupyterlab_widgets: 3.0.15
    kiwisolver: 1.4.8
    line_profiler: 4.2.0
    llvmlite: 0.44.0
    lxml: 5.3.1
    lz4: 4.4.4
    MarkupSafe: 3.0.2
    matplotlib: 3.10.1
    matplotlib-inline: 0.1.7
    msgpack: 1.1.0
    narwhals: 1.39.0
    ndindex: 1.10.0
    nest-asyncio: 1.6.0
    netCDF4: 1.6.5
    networkx: 3.3
    nibabel: 5.2.0
    nptyping: 2.5.0
    numba: 0.61.2
    numexpr: 2.11.0
    numpy: 2.2.5
    numpy: 1.26.4
    OpenMM: 8.2.0
    openvr: 1.26.701
    packaging: 24.2
    ParmEd: 4.2.2
    parso: 0.8.4
    pep517: 0.13.1
    pexpect: 4.9.0
    pickleshare: 0.7.5
    pillow: 10.4.0
    pip: 25.0.1
    pkginfo: 1.11.1
    platformdirs: 4.3.8
    plotly: 6.0.1
    pluggy: 1.6.0
    prompt_toolkit: 3.0.51
    psutil: 7.0.0
    ptyprocess: 0.7.0
    pure_eval: 0.2.3
    py-cpuinfo: 9.0.0
    pycollada: 0.8
    pydicom: 2.4.4
    pyelftools: 0.32
    Pygments: 2.18.0
    pyKVFinder: 0.8.0
    pynmrstar: 3.3.5
    pynndescent: 0.5.13
    pynrrd: 1.0.0
    PyOpenGL: 3.1.9
    PyOpenGL-accelerate: 3.1.9
    pyopenxr: 1.1.4501
    pyparsing: 3.2.3
    pyproject_hooks: 1.2.0
    PyQt6-commercial: 6.8.1
    PyQt6-Qt6: 6.8.2
    PyQt6-WebEngine-commercial: 6.8.0
    PyQt6-WebEngine-Qt6: 6.8.2
    PyQt6_sip: 13.10.0
    pytest: 8.4.0
    pytest-cov: 6.2.1
    python-dateutil: 2.9.0.post0
    pytz: 2025.2
    pyzmq: 26.4.0
    qtconsole: 5.5.2
    QtPy: 2.4.3
    qtshim: 1.1
    RandomWords: 0.4.0
    requests: 2.32.3
    roman-numerals-py: 3.1.0
    scikit-learn: 1.6.1
    scipy: 1.14.0
    setuptools: 78.1.0
    sfftk-rw: 0.8.1
    six: 1.16.0
    snowballstemmer: 3.0.1
    sortedcontainers: 2.4.0
    soupsieve: 2.7
    Sphinx: 8.2.3
    sphinx-autodoc-typehints: 3.1.0
    sphinxcontrib-applehelp: 2.0.0
    sphinxcontrib-blockdiag: 3.0.0
    sphinxcontrib-devhelp: 2.0.0
    sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp: 2.1.0
    sphinxcontrib-jsmath: 1.0.1
    sphinxcontrib-qthelp: 2.0.0
    sphinxcontrib-serializinghtml: 2.0.0
    stack-data: 0.6.3
    superqt: 0.7.1
    tables: 3.10.2
    tcia_utils: 1.5.1
    threadpoolctl: 3.6.0
    tifffile: 2025.3.13
    tinyarray: 1.2.4
    tomlkit: 0.13.2
    tornado: 6.5.1
    tqdm: 4.67.1
    traitlets: 5.14.3
    typing_extensions: 4.14.0
    tzdata: 2025.2
    umap-learn: 0.5.7
    urllib3: 2.4.0
    wcwidth: 0.2.13
    webcolors: 24.11.1
    wheel: 0.45.1
    wheel-filename: 1.4.2
    widgetsnbextension: 4.0.14

[Tom Goddard]

Interesting. Apparently ChimeraX Boltz installation on Mac requires the XCode command-line tools. I think those are included by default on Mac but you have to agree to the license. So annoying. The error message said what you would have to do to fix this

"You have not agreed to the Xcode license agreements. Please run 'sudo
xcodebuild -license' from within a Terminal window to review and agree to the
Xcode and Apple SDKs license."

The trouble is it is trying to install my github fork of Boltz with various fixes using pip and pip tries to use the Mac "git" command and that is failing because you haven't agreed to the Mac command-line tools license.

Maybe I will have to make a ChimeraX-Boltz PyPi package to get around this idiocy.

I don't know what to think that no one has reported this before. Is no one using ChimeraX Boltz on Mac? Or do they figure out from the error that they have to accept Apple's license? I guess this install error does not bring up ChimeraX report-a-bug so maybe no one reports it and they give up.

[Elaine Meng]

I previously used Boltz in ChimeraX successfully. However, this time (maybe with newer daily build) the first error message said I had to get a newer Boltz and to run a specific command to do that, and that is what caused this other error.

[Tom Goddard]

This is only a problem with newer ChimeraX versions that install Boltz 1.0. Older ChimeraX installed Boltz 0.4.1 from PyPi. To install Boltz 1.0 I had to make fixes to Boltz so instead of installing the standard Boltz 1.0 it installs my github fork and that is what needs the git command that apparently macOS does not have by default.

[Elaine Meng]

Unfortunately I can't run boltz at all on this laptop, seems to be the same problem in both 1.10 release and 1.11 daily build 2025-07-09

[Tom Goddard]

Do you get the same error message as when you originally reported this?

Did you follow the instructions in the error message that I suggested in comment 2:

"You have not agreed to the Xcode license agreements. Please run 'sudo
xcodebuild -license' from within a Terminal window to review and agree to the
Xcode and Apple SDKs license."

Surprisingly no one else has reported this. I suspect that is because somehow you updated Xcode and yet never used it, so you never agreed to the Apple Xcode license. I think it has not been reported because most users have either never updated Xcode, or if they did they used it and agreed to the license.

If you still get an error after agreeing to the XCode license then definitely send the new error message.

[Elaine Meng]

Oops, I didn't try the sudo, I only noticed the first suggestion, which was to use ChimeraX command:

boltz install ~/boltz_new

Then I eventually noticed the other suggestions about sudo and upgrading pip.  So in Terminal ( I wasn't sure where to enter the second command but it didn't work in the ChimeraX command line):

sudo xcodebuild -license
 /Users/meng/boltz_new/bin/python -m pip install --upgrade pip
rm -rf ~/boltz_new

...and then back in the ChimeraX command line, 

boltz install ~/boltz_new

... the installation completed successfully and my test run completed!   Yay!!!

boltz predict ins_human

Sorry for missing the sudo and pip stuff, the output to Log was volumninous and (to me) a little intimidating :-D

[Tom Goddard]

Great! Glad it worked. It was hard to find the xcode license agreement message in the mass of logged error output.

I think this is an very rare error so I am not going to put a check for it in the code unless one more person reports it. The code would not be able to fix the problem so if I do eventually put a check in it will only be able to give a simpler error message explaining the problem and solution.