BerriAI/litellm · error · PromptGuardMissingCredentials

PromptGuard API key is required. Set PROMPTGUARD_API_KEY in

Error message

PromptGuard API key is required. Set PROMPTGUARD_API_KEY in the environment or pass api_key in the guardrail config.

What it means

Error "PromptGuard API key is required. Set PROMPTGUARD_API_KEY in the environment or pass api_key in the guardrail config." thrown in BerriAI/litellm.

Source

Thrown at litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_hooks/promptguard/promptguard.py:53

class PromptGuardMissingCredentials(Exception):
    pass


class PromptGuardGuardrail(CustomGuardrail):
    def __init__(
        self,
        api_key: str | None = None,
        api_base: str | None = None,
        block_on_error: bool | None = None,
        **kwargs: Any,
    ) -> None:
        self.api_key = api_key or os.environ.get(
            "PROMPTGUARD_API_KEY",
        )
        if not self.api_key:
            raise PromptGuardMissingCredentials(
                "PromptGuard API key is required. "
                "Set PROMPTGUARD_API_KEY in the "
                "environment or pass api_key in "
                "the guardrail config."
            )

        self.api_base = (api_base or os.environ.get("PROMPTGUARD_API_BASE") or _DEFAULT_API_BASE).rstrip("/")

        if block_on_error is None:
            env: Final = os.environ.get("PROMPTGUARD_BLOCK_ON_ERROR", "true")
            self.block_on_error = env.lower() in (
                "true",
                "1",
                "yes",
            )
        else:
            self.block_on_error = block_on_error

View on GitHub (pinned to 77b7c6c40c)

Solutions

1. Set the PROMPTGUARD_API_KEY environment variable.
2. Or pass api_key in the promptguard guardrail config.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_hooks/promptguard/promptguard.py:53 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of BerriAI/litellm@77b7c6c40c (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cf9d32e738a17e1d. Report an issue: GitHub.