OpenBB-finance/OpenBB · error · ValueError

Either 'content' or 'url' must be provided.

Error message

Either 'content' or 'url' must be provided.

What it means

ValueError from the PdfResponseModel validator: a PDF response must carry either raw/base64 'content' or a 'url' file reference; supplying neither leaves the model with nothing to serve and validation fails. Note both fields being empty is the failure — one of them is mandatory.

Source

Thrown at openbb_platform/extensions/platform_api/openbb_platform_api/response_models.py:130

        default=None,
        description="Leave this field empty. This is populated by the model_validator.",
        json_schema_extra={"x-widget_config": {"exclude": True}},
    )

    @model_validator(mode="after")
    @classmethod
    def validate_model(cls, values) -> "PdfResponseModel":
        """Validate the PDF content."""
        # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
        import base64  # noqa
        from io import BytesIO

        content = getattr(values, "content", None)
        file_reference = getattr(values, "url", None)
        filename = getattr(values, "filename", "")

        if not content and not file_reference:
            raise ValueError("Either 'content' or 'url' must be provided.")

        if file_reference and "://" not in file_reference:
            raise ValueError("Invalid URL reference provided")

        if content:
            pdf = (
                base64.b64encode(BytesIO(content).getvalue()).decode("utf-8")
                if isinstance(content, bytes)
                else content
            )

        values.content = pdf
        if file_reference:
            values.url = file_reference
        elif hasattr(values, "url"):
            del values.url
        values.data_format = {"data_type": "pdf", "filename": filename}

View on GitHub (pinned to 3e071fcc2c)

Solutions

1. Provide content (bytes are base64-encoded automatically, or pass a base64 str) or a url containing a scheme
2. Fix the upstream fetch so content is populated before constructing the model
3. If using a file reference, ensure it is a full URL like https://... (see also error 137 for the URL format check)

Example fix

# before
PdfResponseModel(filename="report.pdf")

# after
PdfResponseModel(filename="report.pdf", content=pdf_bytes)
# or
PdfResponseModel(filename="report.pdf", url="https://cdn.example.com/report.pdf")

if not content and not url:
    raise ValueError("PDF response needs 'content' or 'url'")
if content:
    kwargs["content"] = content
else:
    kwargs["url"] = url
model = PdfResponseModel(filename=filename, **kwargs)

def has_pdf_payload(content, url) -> bool:
    return bool(content) or bool(url)

try:
    model = PdfResponseModel(filename=name, content=content, url=url)
except ValueError as e:
    if "Either 'content' or 'url'" in str(e):
        model = PdfResponseModel(
            filename=name, url="https://fallback.example.com/report.pdf"
        )
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Constructing PdfResponseModel(filename="report.pdf") with no content and no url; or a data pipeline where both keys were dropped/empty (content=None, url="") — falsy values count as absent because the check is truthiness-based.

Common situations: Building response models from dicts where the PDF bytes failed to download upstream and the code still constructs the model, passing an empty bytes literal b"", forgetting the field is named 'url' and using 'link' or 'path' instead.

Related errors

• Invalid URL reference provided
• Content cannot be empty.
• Invalid parse_as value. Must be one of 'table', 'chart', or
• At least one extension type must be selected.
• Incorrect email or password

AI-assisted analysis of OpenBB-finance/OpenBB@3e071fcc2c (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d986de6ce2b0d99e. Report an issue: GitHub.