OpenBB-finance/OpenBB · error · UnauthorizedError

{error.get('code', '')} -> {error.get('message', '')}

Error message

{error.get('code', '')} -> {error.get('message', '')}

What it means

UnauthorizedError raised by the congress.gov amendment-info fetcher when the API response body contains an error whose code includes 'API_KEY' — i.e. congress.gov rejected the credentials. The message concatenates the upstream code and message (e.g. 'API_KEY_NOT_FOUND -> No API key found...'). OpenBB maps this to an auth failure so callers can distinguish 'bad key' from other API errors.

Source

Thrown at openbb_platform/providers/congress_gov/openbb_congress_gov/models/amendment_info.py:107

        from openbb_core.provider.utils.helpers import amake_request

        api_key = credentials.get("congress_gov_api_key", "") if credentials else ""
        amendment_url = query.amendment_url

        if amendment_url[0].isnumeric() or (
            amendment_url[0] == "/" and amendment_url[1].isnumeric()
        ):
            amendment_url = (
                "https://api.congress.gov/v3/amendment/"
                + f"{amendment_url[1:] if amendment_url[0] == '/' else amendment_url}?format=json"
            )

        url = amendment_url + "&api_key=" + api_key
        base_info: dict = await amake_request(url)  # type: ignore

        if isinstance(base_info, dict) and (error := base_info.get("error", {})):
            if "API_KEY" in error.get("code", ""):
                raise UnauthorizedError(
                    f"{error.get('code', '')} -> {error.get('message', '')}"
                )
            raise OpenBBError(f"{error.get('code', '')} -> {error.get('message', '')}")

        base_info = base_info.get("amendment", {})

        cosponsors = base_info.get("cosponsors", {})
        if isinstance(cosponsors, dict) and cosponsors.get("count", 0) > 0:
            cosponsors_url = cosponsors.get("url", "") + "&api_key=" + api_key
            cosponsors_response: dict = await amake_request(cosponsors_url)  # type: ignore
            cosponsors_list = cosponsors_response.get("cosponsors", [])
            if cosponsors_list:
                base_info["cosponsors"] = cosponsors_list

        actions = base_info.get("actions", {})
        if actions.get("count", 0) > 0:
            actions_url = actions.get("url", "") + "&api_key=" + api_key
            actions_response: dict = await amake_request(actions_url)  # type: ignore

View on GitHub (pinned to 3e071fcc2c)

Solutions

  1. Set the credential: obb.account.credentials.set('congress_gov_api_key', '<key>') or export CONGRESS_GOV_API_KEY.
  2. Verify the key works with a direct curl to https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill?format=json&api_key=<key>.
  3. If rate-limited, wait for the quota window to reset or request a higher tier key from congress.gov.

Example fix

# before
obb.congress.amendment_info(amendment_url='119/hamdt/2')

# after
obb.account.credentials.set('congress_gov_api_key', os.environ['CONGRESS_GOV_API_KEY'])
obb.congress.amendment_info(amendment_url='119/hamdt/2')
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import obb
key = obb.account.credentials.get('congress_gov_api_key')
if not key:
    raise RuntimeError('congress_gov_api_key is not configured')

Try / catch

from openbb_core.provider.utils.errors import UnauthorizedError

try:
    res = obb.congress.amendment_info(amendment_url='119/hamdt/2')
except UnauthorizedError:
    raise SystemExit('Fix congress_gov_api_key in OpenBB credentials') from None

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling CongressAmendmentInfo without a congress_gov_api_key credential; a key that was revoked, exceeded its rate limit (over 5,000 requests/hour keys get suspended), or never set in the OpenBB hub credentials; env var name typo like CONGRESS_GOV_APIKEY.

Common situations: Fresh installs where the key was never provisioned; CI environments missing the credential secret; shared keys hitting the hourly quota; keys invalidated after the congress.gov key migration.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of OpenBB-finance/OpenBB@3e071fcc2c (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3f27614feb9e9c37. Report an issue: GitHub.