Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm · critical · Error

Anthropic API key must be provided to use agents.

Error message

Anthropic API key must be provided to use agents.

What it means

checkSetup() (index.js:134-137) throws for provider === "anthropic" when process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is falsy. The agent layer refuses to proceed rather than sending an unauthenticated request.

Source

Thrown at server/utils/agents/index.js:136

          }
        );
      });
      return agentHistory;
    } catch (e) {
      this.log("Error loading chat history", e.message);
      return [];
    }
  }

  checkSetup() {
    switch (this.provider) {
      case "openai":
        if (!process.env.OPEN_AI_KEY)
          throw new Error("OpenAI API key must be provided to use agents.");
        break;
      case "anthropic":
        if (!process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)
          throw new Error("Anthropic API key must be provided to use agents.");
        break;
      case "lmstudio":
        if (!process.env.LMSTUDIO_BASE_PATH)
          throw new Error("LMStudio base path must be provided to use agents.");
        break;
      case "ollama":
        if (!process.env.OLLAMA_BASE_PATH)
          throw new Error("Ollama base path must be provided to use agents.");
        break;
      case "groq":
        if (!process.env.GROQ_API_KEY)
          throw new Error("Groq API key must be provided to use agents.");
        break;
      case "togetherai":
        if (!process.env.TOGETHER_AI_API_KEY)
          throw new Error("TogetherAI API key must be provided to use agents.");
        break;
      case "azure":

View on GitHub (pinned to 526360e320)

Solutions

  1. Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in .env to a valid Anthropic API key.
  2. Restart the server so the env is reloaded.
  3. For Docker, inject the key via the compose env block or -e.
  4. Confirm the key is active in the Anthropic console.

Example fix

# before (.env)
# ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=

# after (.env)
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...validkey...
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function anthropicAgentReady() {
  return Boolean(process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY && process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.trim());
}
if (provider === "anthropic" && !anthropicAgentReady())
  throw new Error("Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY before enabling the anthropic agent.");

Try / catch

try {
  agent.checkSetup();
} catch (e) {
  if (/ANTHROPIC_API_KEY|API key must be provided/i.test(e.message)) {
    throw new Error("Anthropic agent is not configured: set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in .env and restart.");
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Selecting the anthropic agent provider while ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is unset or empty in the server environment.

Common situations: Anthropic provider chosen without configuring the key, a renamed env var, or a deployment that didn't propagate the secret to the server container.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm@526360e320 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/415cc66a3b08c589. Report an issue: GitHub.