BerriAI/litellm · error · ValueError

PG Vector API key is required. Set PG_VECTOR_API_KEY environ

Error message

PG Vector API key is required. Set PG_VECTOR_API_KEY environment variable or pass api_key in litellm_params.

What it means

Credential guard in the PG Vector store config's validate_environment: the API key lookup (litellm_params.api_key then PG_VECTOR_API_KEY secret) returned nothing, so authentication headers for the deployed PG vector service cannot be built.

Source

Thrown at litellm/llms/pg_vector/vector_stores/transformation.py:40

    You just need to connect litellm proxy to this deployed server.

    Requires:
    - api_base: The base URL for the PG vector service
    - api_key: API key for authentication with the PG vector service
    """

    def validate_environment(self, headers: dict, litellm_params: GenericLiteLLMParams | None) -> dict:
        """
        Validate environment and set headers for PG vector service authentication
        """
        litellm_params = litellm_params or GenericLiteLLMParams()

        # Get API key from various sources
        api_key: Final = litellm_params.api_key or get_secret_str("PG_VECTOR_API_KEY")

        if not api_key:
            raise ValueError(
                "PG Vector API key is required. Set PG_VECTOR_API_KEY environment variable or pass api_key in litellm_params."
            )

        headers.update(
            {
                "Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}",
                "Content-Type": "application/json",
            }
        )

        return headers

    def get_complete_url(
        self,
        api_base: str | None,
        litellm_params: dict,
    ) -> str:
        """

View on GitHub (pinned to 77b7c6c40c)

Solutions

1. Set the PG_VECTOR_API_KEY environment variable before making the call.
2. Pass api_key in litellm_params for the pg_vector vector store.

Example fix

os.environ["PG_VECTOR_API_KEY"] = "<key>"  # or litellm.vector_stores.create(..., api_key="<key>")

When it happens

Trigger: Triggered when calling a PG Vector vector store without an API key: PG_VECTOR_API_KEY env var unset and no api_key passed in litellm_params.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of BerriAI/litellm@77b7c6c40c (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/393840692c557280. Report an issue: GitHub.