OpenBB-finance/OpenBB · error · ValueError

Unknown attribute: '{attr}' for {commodity}. Valid attribute

Error message

Unknown attribute: '{attr}' for {commodity}. Valid attributes: {valid_attrs}

What it means

ValueError while validating each requested attribute: the normalized attribute key is not present in the global static ATTRIBUTES dictionary at all. This is a global-vocabulary miss (the attribute does not exist for any commodity), distinct from the commodity-specific availability check that follows.

Source

Thrown at openbb_platform/providers/government_us/openbb_government_us/utils/psd_data_downloader.py:298

    commodity_code = COMMODITIES[key]
    valid_attrs = _get_commodity_attributes(commodity_code)
    # Resolve attribute - None means ALL, can be single, list, or comma-separated
    if attribute is None:
        attr_ids = [ATTRIBUTES[a] for a in valid_attrs]
    else:
        # Normalize to list
        if isinstance(attribute, str):
            attr_list = [a.strip() for a in attribute.split(",") if a.strip()]
        else:
            attr_list = list(attribute)

        # Validate each attribute
        attr_ids = []
        for attr in attr_list:
            attr_key = attr.lower().replace(" ", "_").replace("-", "_")
            if attr_key not in ATTRIBUTES:
                raise ValueError(
                    f"Unknown attribute: '{attr}' for {commodity}. Valid attributes: {valid_attrs}"
                )
            if attr_key not in valid_attrs:
                raise ValueError(
                    f"Attribute '{attr}' is not available for {commodity}. Valid attributes: {valid_attrs}"
                )
            attr_ids.append(ATTRIBUTES[attr_key])

    # Resolve country/region - None means ALL
    # Accepts: lower_snake_case ("united_states"), codes ("US", "R05"), list, comma-separated, or None for all
    selected_region_codes: list[str] = []  # Track selected regions
    selected_country_codes: list[str] = []  # Track selected countries
    valid_countries_map = _get_commodity_countries(commodity_code)
    valid_country_codes = set(valid_countries_map.values())
    code_to_key = {}

    for key, code in COUNTRIES.items():
        if code not in code_to_key:

View on GitHub (pinned to 3e071fcc2c)

Solutions

Use a name from the global ATTRIBUTES keys (e.g. 'production', 'imports', 'exports', 'ending_stocks').
List the valid attributes for the commodity first via _get_commodity_attributes(commodity_code) or the error's valid_attrs.
Normalize free-text input to snake_case before passing.

Example fix

# before
fetch(attribute="end stocks")

# after
fetch(attribute="ending_stocks")

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

from openbb_government_us.utils.psd_data_downloader import ATTRIBUTES

def normalize_attribute(a: str) -> str | None:
    key = a.lower().replace(" ", "_").replace("-", "_")
    return key if key in ATTRIBUTES else None

Type guard

def is_valid_psd_attribute(a: str) -> bool is not None and isinstance(a, str) and a.lower().replace(" ", "_").replace("-", "_") in ATTRIBUTES

Prevention

Map UI labels to canonical ATTRIBUTES keys explicitly.
Validate every element of comma-separated attribute lists before calling.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing attribute='product' when the vocabulary uses 'production'; passing units or column aliases instead of the canonical attribute names; typos.

Common situations: Users copying column names from the PSD website UI that differ from the API attribute keys; assuming an attribute exists because it appears in another USDA dataset.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of OpenBB-finance/OpenBB@3e071fcc2c (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/32504596637f069a. Report an issue: GitHub.