What causes "Base URL must use http or https scheme, got %q" in alibaba/open-code-review?

Prefix the URL with https:// (or http:// for local/insecure endpoints)

Base URL must use http or https scheme, got

Error message

Base URL must use http or https scheme, got %q

What it means

validateBaseURL requires the Base URL's scheme to be http or https; any other scheme (ftp://, file://, or a missing scheme where url.Parse yields an empty Scheme) is rejected with this message. This prevents saving endpoints the LLM HTTP client could never reach.

Solutions

Prefix the URL with https:// (or http:// for local/insecure endpoints)
Example: change "api.example.com/v1" to "https://api.example.com/v1"
For local gateways use "http://localhost:8080/v1"
Re-run the provider set command after fixing the scheme

Example fix

// before
$ ocr config provider set base-url api.example.com/v1
// error: Base URL must use http or https scheme, got ""
// after
$ ocr config provider set base-url https://api.example.com/v1

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

u, _ := url.Parse(raw)
if u != nil && u.Scheme != "http" && u.Scheme != "https" {
    return fmt.Errorf("add http:// or https:// prefix to %q", raw)
}

Type guard

func hasHTTPScheme(raw string) bool {
    u, err := url.Parse(raw)
    return err == nil && (u.Scheme == "http" || u.Scheme == "https")
}

Try / catch

if err := applyProviderField(...); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "must use http or https scheme") {
        fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "prefix the endpoint with https://")
    }
    return err
}

Prevention

Always include https:// when entering endpoints
Treat bare host:port as invalid until prefixed with a scheme
Use http:// only for explicitly local/insecure gateways

When it happens

Trigger: applyProviderField receiving a Base URL like "api.example.com/v1" (no scheme), "ftp://...", or "localhost:8080" where url.Parse's Scheme ends up not http/https.

Common situations: Users omitting https:// when pasting hostnames; copying non-HTTP links from vendor docs; assuming a bare host:port string is a valid URL.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of alibaba/open-code-review@5cf97d0d15 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fcfe73309a402e1a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/opencodereview/provider_cmd.go:456

	if key == "" {
		return "(not set)"
	}
	if len(key) <= 8 {
		return "***"
	}
	return key[:4] + "***" + key[len(key)-4:]
}

// validateBaseURL checks that a provider Base URL has an http or https scheme
// and a non-empty host, giving the user immediate feedback rather than
// a runtime failure when the LLM client tries to use it.
func validateBaseURL(raw string) error {
	parsed, err := url.Parse(raw)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid Base URL %q: %w", raw, err)
	}
	if parsed.Scheme != "http" && parsed.Scheme != "https" {
		return fmt.Errorf("Base URL must use http or https scheme, got %q", parsed.Scheme)
	}
	if parsed.Host == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("Base URL %q must include a host", raw)
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5cf97d0d15)