BerriAI/litellm · error · ValueError

ElevenLabs API key is required. Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY envir

Error message

ElevenLabs API key is required. Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY environment variable.

What it means

Error "ElevenLabs API key is required. Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY environment variable." thrown in BerriAI/litellm.

Source

Thrown at litellm/llms/elevenlabs/audio_transcription/transformation.py:181

        # ElevenLabs speech-to-text endpoint
        url: Final = f"{api_base}/v1/speech-to-text"

        return url

    def validate_environment(
        self,
        headers: dict,
        model: str,
        messages: list[AllMessageValues],
        optional_params: dict,
        litellm_params: dict,
        api_key: str | None = None,
        api_base: str | None = None,
    ) -> dict:
        api_key = api_key or get_secret_str("ELEVENLABS_API_KEY")
        if api_key is None:
            raise ValueError("ElevenLabs API key is required. Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY environment variable.")

        auth_header: Final = {
            "xi-api-key": api_key,
        }

        headers.update(auth_header)
        return headers

View on GitHub (pinned to 6c2dcb801b)

Solutions

1. Set ELEVENLABS_API_KEY in the environment.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at litellm/llms/elevenlabs/audio_transcription/transformation.py:181 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of BerriAI/litellm@6c2dcb801b (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e2c1c1f7cb84cd57. Report an issue: GitHub.