transformers-cli now requires PyTorch

[setu4993]

System Info

N/A

Who can help?

@gante (author of #35714)

Reproduction

uv run --python 3.12 --with transformers transformers-cli --help

Expected behavior

Since #35714 (released in v4.49.0), the transformers-cli now requires PyTorch to even run a simple: transformers-cli --help command.

I am pretty sure it is originating from this line.

My question is if this is intentional or unintentional. So far, PyTorch has been an optional dependency for any functionality with CLI or the package itself.

[Rocketknight1]

Seems real, and I don't think we should require Torch for transformers-cli. I think this is probably a testing failure more than anything, though - cc @gante, maybe we should have tests for transformers-cli that don't @require_torch so we catch things like this in future?