BerriAI/litellm · error · ValueError

Could not reach the proxy at {start_url}: {e}. Check that th

Error message

Could not reach the proxy at {start_url}: {e}. Check that the proxy is running and that --base-url points at it.

What it means

Raised in the CLI SSO login flow when requests.post() to {base_url}/sso/cli/start raises a RequestException — connection refused, DNS failure, or timeout. This means the proxy is unreachable at the given --base-url (not running, wrong URL, or network blocked); the original exception text is embedded and chained.

Source

Thrown at litellm/proxy/client/cli/commands/auth.py:426

        return [
            {
                "team_id": i.get("team_id") or i.get("id"),
                "team_alias": i.get("team_alias"),
            }
            for i in team_details
            if isinstance(i, dict) and (i.get("team_id") or i.get("id"))
        ]
    if isinstance(teams, list):
        return [{"team_id": str(t), "team_alias": None} for t in teams]
    return []


def _start_cli_sso_flow(base_url: str) -> CliSsoStartData:
    start_url: Final = f"{base_url}/sso/cli/start"
    try:
        response: Final = requests.post(start_url, timeout=10)
    except requests.RequestException as e:
        raise ValueError(
            f"Could not reach the proxy at {start_url}: {e}. "
            "Check that the proxy is running and that --base-url points at it."
        ) from e

    if response.status_code in (404, 405):
        raise ValueError(
            f"POST {start_url} returned HTTP {response.status_code}. "
            "Either --base-url is wrong, or the proxy is older than this CLI and does not support "
            "the CLI SSO login flow; upgrade the proxy or use a CLI version that matches it."
        )
    if response.status_code != 200:
        detail: Final = _response_error_detail(response)
        raise ValueError(
            f"Starting CLI login failed: HTTP {response.status_code} from {start_url}"
            + (f": {detail}" if detail else "")
        )

    try:

View on GitHub (pinned to 77b7c6c40c)

Solutions

1. Ensure the proxy is running.
2. Fix --base-url so it points at the proxy.

Example fix

curl http://localhost:4000/health/liveliness

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at litellm/proxy/client/cli/commands/auth.py:426 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: The CLI could not connect to the proxy to start login.

AI-assisted analysis of BerriAI/litellm@77b7c6c40c (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1ca3a7543422a19d. Report an issue: GitHub.