Environment:Google deepmind Dm control Python MuJoCo Runtime

Knowledge Sources	dm_control MuJoCo
Domains	Infrastructure, Reinforcement_Learning, Physics_Simulation
Last Updated	2026-02-15 05:00 GMT

Overview

Python 3.9+ environment with MuJoCo >= 3.5.0, NumPy, SciPy, and supporting libraries for physics-based reinforcement learning simulation.

Description

This environment defines the core Python runtime required to use dm_control. It centers on MuJoCo >= 3.5.0 as the physics engine, with Python 3.9 or newer as the language runtime. The stack includes numerical libraries (NumPy, SciPy), XML processing (lxml, pyparsing), protocol buffers, and the dm-env reinforcement learning interface. All Control Suite, Composer, Locomotion, Manipulation, and Soccer environments depend on this base runtime.

Usage

Use this environment for any dm_control workflow. It is the mandatory prerequisite for all implementations in this repository, including Control Suite environment loading, Composer environment assembly, MJCF model manipulation, and interactive visualization.

System Requirements

Category	Requirement	Notes
OS	Linux (recommended), macOS, Windows	Linux is the primary development/CI platform
Python	>= 3.9	Enforced in setup.py; tested on 3.9, 3.10, 3.11+
Hardware	CPU (minimum)	GPU optional, only needed for hardware-accelerated rendering
Disk	~500MB	Includes MuJoCo binaries, model assets, and mesh files

Dependencies

System Packages

MuJoCo native library (bundled with `mujoco` Python package)

Python Packages

`mujoco` >= 3.5.0
`absl-py` >= 0.7.0
`dm-env` (any version)
`dm-tree` != 0.1.2
`numpy` >= 1.9.0
`scipy` (any version)
`lxml` (any version)
`pyparsing` >= 3.0.0
`protobuf` >= 3.19.4
`pyopengl` >= 3.1.4
`glfw` (any version)
`labmaze` (any version)
`requests` (any version)
`setuptools` != 50.0.0
`tqdm` (any version)

Optional Packages

`h5py` -- Required for HDF5 motion capture trajectory loading. Install with `pip install dm_control[HDF5]`.

Credentials

No credentials or API keys are required for core functionality.

Quick Install

# Standard install
pip install dm_control

# With HDF5 support for motion capture data
pip install dm_control[HDF5]

Code Evidence

Python version constraint from `setup.py:186`:

python_requires='>=3.9',

MuJoCo version constraint from `setup.py:194`:

install_requires=[
    ...
    'mujoco >= 3.5.0',
    ...
],

Excluded setuptools version from `setup.py:200`:

'setuptools!=50.0.0',  # https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/2350

Optional h5py import guard from `locomotion/mocap/loader.py:88-94`:

try:
    import h5py
except ImportError:
    raise ImportError(
        'h5py not found. When installing dm_control, use '
        '`pip install dm_control[HDF5]` to enable HDF5TrajectoryLoader.')

Build system requires MuJoCo headers from `setup.py:25,40-48`:

import mujoco
HEADER_FILENAMES = [
    'mjdata.h', 'mjmodel.h', 'mjrender.h', 'mjtnum.h',
    'mjui.h', 'mjvisualize.h', 'mjxmacro.h', 'mujoco.h',
]

Common Errors

Error Message	Cause	Solution
`ImportError: cannot import name 'constants' from partially initialized module 'dm_control.mujoco.wrapper.mjbindings'`	Attempted editable install (`pip install -e`)	Use standard install: `pip install dm_control` (editable mode not supported)
`ImportError: h5py not found`	h5py not installed	`pip install dm_control[HDF5]`
`RuntimeError: No OpenGL rendering backend is available.`	No OpenGL backend (GLFW, EGL, OSMesa) could be imported	Install GLFW, configure EGL, or install OSMesa libraries
`mjbindings failed to import mjlib`	MuJoCo shared library not found	Verify `mujoco` package is installed: `pip install mujoco>=3.5.0`

Compatibility Notes

Editable Mode: `pip install -e .` is not supported due to legacy auto-generated MuJoCo bindings. Use `pip install dm_control` instead.
setuptools 50.0.0: Explicitly excluded due to a known bug (pypa/setuptools#2350).
dm-tree 0.1.2: Explicitly excluded due to incompatibility.
NumPy version: Version-specific pins exist: NumPy 2.3.2 for Python 3.11+, 2.2.6 for Python 3.10, 2.0.2 for Python 3.9.
macOS: Rendering operations must run on the main thread due to GLFW/macOS threading constraints.

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