JuliusBrussee/caveman · error · Error

no provider credential detected; pass --provider

Error message

no provider credential detected; pass --provider

What it means

chooseProvider auto-detects which LLM provider to use from environment variables (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY/GOOGLE_API_KEY). If none are set AND stdin/stdout is not a TTY (so the interactive picker cannot run), it throws telling you to pass --provider explicitly.

Solutions

1. Pass the provider explicitly: `--provider anthropic` (or openai/google)
2. Export the matching API key env var (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, or GEMINI_API_KEY/GOOGLE_API_KEY) before running
3. In CI, add the credential to the job's secrets/environment

Example fix

// before (CI, no env)
npm create @caveman-ai/agent@latest my-app
// after
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-... npm create @caveman-ai/agent@latest my-app
// or
npm create @caveman-ai/agent@latest my-app -- --provider anthropic

const hasProviderEnv = ["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY", "OPENAI_API_KEY", "GEMINI_API_KEY", "GOOGLE_API_KEY"]
  .some(k => Boolean(process.env[k]));
if (!hasProviderEnv && !process.stdout.isTTY) {
  process.argv.push("--provider", "anthropic"); // pick explicitly in non-interactive contexts
}

function providerCredentialPresent(): boolean {
  return ["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY", "OPENAI_API_KEY", "GEMINI_API_KEY", "GOOGLE_API_KEY"]
    .some(k => Boolean(process.env[k]));
}

try {
  await main();
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof Error && error.message.includes("no provider credential detected")) {
    console.error("Set an API key env var or pass --provider <anthropic|openai|google>");
    process.exitCode = 1;
  } else throw error;
}

When it happens

Trigger: No provider env vars are set and the command runs in a non-interactive context: CI pipeline, piped/redirected stdio, non-interactive shell, docker build, or scripted execution with no terminal.

Common situations: Fresh machine where credentials were never exported; CI secrets not configured for the job; running inside Docker or a script where stdin is not a TTY; env vars set only in an interactive shell profile not loaded by the runner.

Understand the failure class

Background: "environment variable is not set" and "Missing keys in environment" errors: what missing required env var messages mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• caveman build: set CAVE_MODEL when zero or multiple…
• multiple provider credentials detected; pass --provider
• CAVE_SETUP_TIMEOUT must be a positive integer
• caveman agent: multiple provider credentials found; set…
• Claude usage refresh needs CAVEMAN_CLAUDE_USAGE_JSON or…

AI-assisted analysis of JuliusBrussee/caveman@3ee70a1026 (2026-09-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0858a33331b6ca41. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/create-caveman-agent/src/index.ts:139

    "TEMP", "TMP", "TMPDIR", "LANG", "LC_ALL", "LC_CTYPE", "TZ", "CI", "NO_COLOR", "FORCE_COLOR",
    "HTTP_PROXY", "HTTPS_PROXY", "NO_PROXY", "http_proxy", "https_proxy", "no_proxy",
    "NPM_CONFIG_CACHE", "NPM_CONFIG_REGISTRY", "NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG",
    "npm_config_cache", "npm_config_registry", "npm_config_userconfig",
  ]) {
    if (process.env[key] !== undefined) env[key] = process.env[key];
  }
  return env;
}

async function chooseProvider(flag: string | undefined): Promise<Provider> {
  if (flag !== undefined) return parseProvider(flag);
  const detected: Provider[] = [];
  if (process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) detected.push("anthropic");
  if (process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY) detected.push("openai");
  if (process.env.GEMINI_API_KEY || process.env.GOOGLE_API_KEY) detected.push("google");
  if (detected.length === 1) return detected[0]!;
  if (!process.stdin.isTTY || !process.stdout.isTTY) {
    throw new Error(
      detected.length === 0
        ? "no provider credential detected; pass --provider"
        : "multiple provider credentials detected; pass --provider",
    );
  }
  const rl = createInterface({ input: process.stdin, output: process.stdout });
  try {
    const answer = await rl.question("Provider (anthropic/openai/google): ");
    return parseProvider(answer);
  } finally {
    rl.close();
  }
}

function projectFiles(name: string, provider: Provider): Record<string, string> {
  return {
    "package.json": `${JSON.stringify({
      name,

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