BerriAI/litellm · error · Exception

Not connected to DB!

Error message

Not connected to DB!

What it means

get_all_team_member_emails imports the proxy's prisma_client from litellm.proxy.proxy_server; when the proxy runs without a database connected, that module-level global is None and this function raises a generic Exception('Not connected to DB!'). It only reaches the DB when team_id is not None, so DB-less deployments only fail once team-scoped email alerts fire.

Solutions

  1. Connect a database to the proxy (set DATABASE_URL and restart) so prisma_client is initialized
  2. If DB-less on purpose, disable team-based email alerting thresholds
  3. Guard callers: check litellm.proxy.proxy_server.prisma_client is not None before invoking
  4. Catch the Exception and degrade gracefully (skip team members, alert admins only)

Example fix

# before
emails = await get_all_team_member_emails(team_id)

# after
from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import prisma_client
emails = (
    await get_all_team_member_emails(team_id)
    if prisma_client is not None
    else []
)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import prisma_client

async def safe_team_emails(team_id: str | None) -> list:
    if team_id is None or prisma_client is None:
        return []
    return await get_all_team_member_emails(team_id)

Try / catch

try:
    emails = await get_all_team_member_emails(team_id)
except Exception as e:
    if 'Not connected to DB' in str(e):
        logger.warning('team email alerts skipped; proxy has no database')
        emails = []
    else:
        raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Enabling email alerting for team budgets/spend on a proxy started without DATABASE_URL; calling get_all_team_member_emails('team-123') directly in tests without initializing prisma_client; alert templates that include team emails while the deployment is auth-less.

Common situations: Trying email alerts on a local/dev proxy with no Postgres; DATABASE_URL set but the proxy started before Prisma connected (race during startup); config copied from a DB-backed instance into a DB-less one.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of BerriAI/litellm@77b7c6c40c (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/91d081f717c471d7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at litellm/integrations/email_alerting.py:24

from typing import Final

from litellm._logging import verbose_logger, verbose_proxy_logger
from litellm.proxy._types import WebhookEvent
from litellm.repositories.team_repository import TeamRepository

# we use this for the email header, please send a test email if you change this. verify it looks good on email
LITELLM_LOGO_URL: Final = "https://litellm-listing.s3.amazonaws.com/litellm_logo.png"
LITELLM_SUPPORT_CONTACT: Final = "support@berri.ai"


async def get_all_team_member_emails(team_id: str | None = None) -> list:
    verbose_logger.debug("Email Alerting: Getting all team members for team_id=%s", team_id)
    if team_id is None:
        return []
    from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import prisma_client

    if prisma_client is None:
        raise Exception("Not connected to DB!")

    team_row: Final = await TeamRepository(prisma_client).table.find_unique(
        where={
            "team_id": team_id,
        }
    )

    if team_row is None:
        return []

    _team_members: Final = team_row.members_with_roles
    verbose_logger.debug(
        "Email Alerting: Got team members for team_id=%s Team Members: %s",
        team_id,
        _team_members,
    )
    _team_member_user_ids: Final[list[str]] = []
    for member in _team_members:

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