use "plain" display when running eval_async() outside of eval() (#1193)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - Hugging Face: Add support for stop sequences for HF models.
 - Docker: More robust parsing of version strings (handle development versions).
 - Bugfix: Fix issue w/ approvals for samples with id==0.
+- Bugfix: Use "plain" display when running eval_async() outside of eval().
 
 ## v0.3.59 (24 January 2025)
 

src/inspect_ai/_eval/eval.py

@@ -35,7 +35,12 @@
 from inspect_ai.solver._chain import chain
 from inspect_ai.solver._solver import Solver, SolverSpec
 from inspect_ai.util import SandboxEnvironmentType
-from inspect_ai.util._display import DisplayType, display_type, init_display_type
+from inspect_ai.util._display import (
+    DisplayType,
+    display_type,
+    display_type_initialized,
+    init_display_type,
+)
 
 from .context import init_eval_context
 from .loader import ResolvedTask, resolve_tasks
@@ -306,6 +311,10 @@ async def eval_async(
 
     _eval_async_running = True
 
+    # if we are called outside of eval() then set display type to "plain"
+    if not display_type_initialized():
+        init_display_type("plain")
+
     # resolve model and task args
     model_args = resolve_args(model_args)
     task_args = resolve_args(task_args)

src/inspect_ai/util/_display.py

@@ -49,3 +49,8 @@ def display_type() -> DisplayType:
         return _display_type
     else:
         return init_display_type()
+
+
+def display_type_initialized() -> bool:
+    global _display_type
+    return _display_type is not None