OtterMind/Chat2DB · error · IllegalArgumentException

model is required

Error message

model is required

What it means

Thrown as IllegalArgumentException('model is required') by AiModelConfigServiceImpl.validateRuntimeModel when runtimeModel.getModel() is blank. Like error 56 it is a raw IllegalArgumentException (not i18n-handled). It fires after the provider check passes but before the provider enum lookup.

Source

Thrown at chat2db-community-server/chat2db-community-domain/chat2db-community-domain-core/src/main/java/ai/chat2db/community/domain/core/impl/ai/AiModelConfigServiceImpl.java:361

        }
        if (provider == AiProviderEnum.CLAUDE) {
            runtimeModel.setApiKey(defaultValue(trimToNull(runtimeModel.getApiKey()), trimToNull(System.getenv("ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"))));
            runtimeModel.setBaseUrl(defaultValue(trimToNull(runtimeModel.getBaseUrl()), trimToNull(System.getenv("ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL"))));
            return;
        }
        if (provider == AiProviderEnum.GEMINI) {
            runtimeModel.setProjectId(defaultValue(trimToNull(runtimeModel.getProjectId()), trimToNull(System.getenv("GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT"))));
            runtimeModel.setLocation(defaultValue(trimToNull(runtimeModel.getLocation()), trimToNull(System.getenv("GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION"))));
            runtimeModel.setLocation(defaultValue(runtimeModel.getLocation(), DEFAULT_GEMINI_LOCATION));
        }
    }

    private void validateRuntimeModel(AiRuntimeModel runtimeModel) {
        if (Objects.isNull(runtimeModel.getProvider())) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("provider is required");
        }
        if (StringUtils.isBlank(runtimeModel.getModel())) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("model is required");
        }
        AiProviderEnum provider = AiProviderEnum.from(runtimeModel.getProvider());
        if (provider == null) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported provider: " + runtimeModel.getProvider());
        }
        if (provider == AiProviderEnum.OPENAI || provider == AiProviderEnum.CLAUDE) {
            return;
        }
        if (provider == AiProviderEnum.GEMINI) {
        }
    }


    private synchronized void loadFromDisk() {
        if (!Files.exists(storagePath)) {
            return;
        }
        try {

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ee1e990e7)

Solutions

1. Set a concrete model id (e.g. 'gpt-4o', 'claude-3-5-sonnet') on the saved config or the resolve request.
2. Validate that the model field is non-blank before persisting an AiModelConfig.
3. Guard resolveRuntimeModel to throw a BusinessException describing the missing model before validateRuntimeModel.

Example fix

// before
resolve.setProvider("OPENAI"); resolve.setApiKey(key); // model blank

// after
resolve.setProvider("OPENAI");
resolve.setModel("gpt-4o");
resolve.setApiKey(key);

AiRuntimeModel m = /* built */;
if (StringUtils.isBlank(m.getModel())) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("model is required before validate");
}

static boolean hasModel(AiRuntimeModel m) {
    return m != null && !StringUtils.isBlank(m.getModel());
}

try {
    service.validateRuntimeModel(m);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    if ("model is required".equals(e.getMessage())) {
        return ResponseEntity.badRequest().body("set a concrete model id");
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: The resolved AiRuntimeModel has a null/blank model string. Reachable when both the request and the base config omitted model, or a saved config has a null model field, and validateRuntimeModel is then called.

Common situations: A model config saved with provider+apiKey but no model identifier; a request that sends provider only expecting the model to come from somewhere it did not; programmatic AiRuntimeModel construction skipping setModel.

Related errors

• provider is required
• ai.model.config.required
• Unsupported provider:
• The baseURL is not valid!
• The baseURL is not valid!

AI-assisted analysis of OtterMind/Chat2DB@5ee1e990e7 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3edbb54bc9d269ec. Report an issue: GitHub.