MiniMax-AI/skills · critical · SystemExit

ERROR: MINIMAX_API_KEY is not set. export MINIMAX_API_KEY=

Error message

ERROR: MINIMAX_API_KEY is not set.
  export MINIMAX_API_KEY='your-key'

What it means

Raised by generate_music() when MINIMAX_API_KEY is absent or empty. The script reads the key once at import (API_KEY = os.getenv) and refuses to build the Authorization Bearer header without it, so it aborts before any network call to POST {API_BASE}/music_generation. Note API_BASE is validated at import time (line 26) and must already be set for execution to even reach this check.

Source

Thrown at skills/frontend-dev/scripts/minimax_music.py:43

if not API_BASE:
    raise SystemExit("ERROR: MINIMAX_API_BASE is not set.")


def generate_music(
    prompt: str = "",
    lyrics: str = "",
    model: str = "music-2.5+",
    is_instrumental: bool = False,
    lyrics_optimizer: bool = False,
    sample_rate: int = 44100,
    bitrate: int = 256000,
    fmt: str = "mp3",
    output_format: str = "hex",
    timeout: int = 600,
) -> dict:
    """Synchronous HTTP music generation. Returns dict with audio bytes and metadata."""
    if not API_KEY:
        raise SystemExit("ERROR: MINIMAX_API_KEY is not set.\n  export MINIMAX_API_KEY='your-key'")

    payload = {
        "model": model,
        "audio_setting": {
            "sample_rate": sample_rate,
            "bitrate": bitrate,
            "format": fmt,
        },
        "output_format": output_format,
    }

    if prompt:
        payload["prompt"] = prompt
    if lyrics:
        payload["lyrics"] = lyrics
    if is_instrumental:
        payload["is_instrumental"] = True
    if lyrics_optimizer:

View on GitHub (pinned to 60aaae52bb)

Solutions

Export the key in the current shell: `export MINIMAX_API_KEY='your-key'`, then re-run the script.
If using a .env file, source it first (`set -a; source .env; set +a`) or load it in your wrapper, since this script does not auto-load dotenv.
For CI, inject the secret as an environment variable on the runner/step and confirm it is non-empty before the step that calls the script.
Verify quickly: `python -c "import os;print(bool(os.getenv('MINIMAX_API_KEY')))"` should print True in the exact environment that runs the script.

Example fix

// before
$ python minimax_music.py --prompt "jazz" -o out.mp3
ERROR: MINIMAX_API_KEY is not set.

// after
$ export MINIMAX_API_KEY='your-key'
$ python minimax_music.py --prompt "jazz" -o out.mp3

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import os

key = os.getenv("MINIMAX_API_KEY")
base = os.getenv("MINIMAX_API_BASE")
if not key:
    raise EnvironmentError("MINIMAX_API_KEY missing — export it before calling generate_music")
if not base:
    raise EnvironmentError("MINIMAX_API_BASE missing — set the region host before importing minimax_music")
# only now import / call
from skills.frontend_dev.scripts.minimax_music import generate_music

Type guard

def has_music_creds() -> bool:
    """True only when both env vars are non-empty."""
    return bool(os.getenv("MINIMAX_API_KEY")) and bool(os.getenv("MINIMAX_API_BASE"))

Try / catch

import subprocess, sys
try:
    subprocess.run([sys.executable, "minimax_music.py", "--prompt", p, "-o", out], check=True)
except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
    if "MINIMAX_API_KEY is not set" in (e.stderr or ""):
        raise EnvironmentError("set MINIMAX_API_KEY before running") from e
    raise

Prevention

Centralize credential loading in one bootstrap step that exports both MINIMAX_API_KEY and MINIMAX_API_BASE before any minimax script runs.
Assert creds in CI with `test -n "$MINIMAX_API_KEY"` so a missing secret fails the job early instead of at runtime.
Run `env | grep MINIMAX` as a preflight check in the exact shell/runner that launches the script.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling generate_music() or running the CLI (`python minimax_music.py --prompt ... -o song.mp3`) in a shell, subprocess, or CI runner where MINIMAX_API_KEY is unset, empty string, or only defined in an un-sourced .env file.

Common situations: Key stored in .env but the file was never loaded (no python-dotenv, no `source .env`); fresh terminal/CI worker that did not inherit the export; typo in the variable name; key quoted incorrectly so the shell expanded to empty; running under a different user account that lacks the export in its profile.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of MiniMax-AI/skills@60aaae52bb (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3346a0885d281298. Report an issue: GitHub.