Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm · error · Error

No Perplexity API key was set.

Error message

No Perplexity API key was set.

What it means

Thrown by the PerplexityLLM constructor when process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is falsy at instantiation time. AnythingLLM refuses to build the provider client without credentials because every downstream call would fail with a 401 anyway, so it fails fast. The provider is an OpenAI-compatible client pointed at https://api.perplexity.ai.

Source

Thrown at server/utils/AiProviders/perplexity/index.js:20

const { NativeEmbedder } = require("../../EmbeddingEngines/native");
const { isAbortError } = require("../../helpers/abortSignals");
const {
  writeResponseChunk,
  clientAbortedHandler,
} = require("../../helpers/chat/responses");
const {
  LLMPerformanceMonitor,
} = require("../../helpers/chat/LLMPerformanceMonitor");

function perplexityModels() {
  const { MODELS } = require("./models.js");
  return MODELS || {};
}

class PerplexityLLM {
  constructor(embedder = null, modelPreference = null) {
    if (!process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY)
      throw new Error("No Perplexity API key was set.");

    this.className = "PerplexityLLM";
    const { OpenAI: OpenAIApi } = require("openai");
    this.openai = new OpenAIApi({
      baseURL: "https://api.perplexity.ai",
      apiKey: process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY ?? null,
    });
    this.model =
      modelPreference ||
      process.env.PERPLEXITY_MODEL_PREF ||
      "llama-3-sonar-large-32k-online"; // Give at least a unique model to the provider as last fallback.
    this.limits = {
      history: this.promptWindowLimit() * 0.15,
      system: this.promptWindowLimit() * 0.15,
      user: this.promptWindowLimit() * 0.7,
    };

    this.embedder = embedder ?? new NativeEmbedder();

View on GitHub (pinned to 526360e320)

Solutions

1. Set PERPLEXITY_API_KEY in server/.env (or your process env) to a valid key from https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api and restart the server.
2. Verify the variable is actually loaded by the Node process: `node -e "console.log(Boolean(process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY))"` run with the same env as the server.
3. If running under Docker/compose, confirm the variable is passed through (env_file or environment: block) and the container was recreated after the change.
4. Check for leading/trailing whitespace or quote characters copied from the portal.

Example fix

// before
// PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is unset -> constructor throws
const llm = new PerplexityLLM(embedder, "llama-3-sonar-large-32k-online");

// after
// server/.env
// PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=pplx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY ??= require("fs").readFileSync("/run/secrets/perplexity_key", "utf8").trim();
const llm = new PerplexityLLM(embedder, "llama-3-sonar-large-32k-online");

function assertPerplexityKey() {
  if (!process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY || !process.env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY.trim()) {
    throw new Error("PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is missing — get one at https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api");
  }
}
// run before constructing PerplexityLLM
assertPerplexityKey();
const llm = new PerplexityLLM(embedder, modelPref);

function hasPerplexityKey(env = process.env) {
  return typeof env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY === "string" && env.PERPLEXITY_API_KEY.trim().length > 0;
}

let llm;
try {
  llm = new PerplexityLLM(embedder, modelPref);
} catch (e) {
  if (/No Perplexity API key/i.test(e.message)) {
    return { ok: false, reason: "missing-api-key", action: "configure PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" };
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Instantiating `new PerplexityLLM(embedder, modelPreference)` while PERPLEXITY_API_KEY is unset, empty string, or whitespace-trimmed to nothing. This includes selecting Perplexity as the workspace LLM in the UI before the key is configured, or running the server with a .env that omits the variable.

Common situations: Fresh clone of AnythingLLM where the developer copied .env.example but never filled in PERPLEXITY_API_KEY; a deployment where the env var is set in one process (e.g. shell) but not exported into the Node process; a typo'd key name (PERPLEXITY_KEY vs PERPLEXITY_API_KEY); rotating a revoked key and forgetting to update the running container.

Related errors

• No PPIO API key was set.
• No SambaNova API key was set.
• No TogetherAI API key was set.
• No Minimax API key was set.
• No Mistral API key was set.

AI-assisted analysis of Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm@526360e320 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ace19a1ad2b7e728. Report an issue: GitHub.