chatboxai/chatbox · error · Error

License key is required for image generation

Error message

License key is required for image generation

What it means

Thrown by getLicenseKey(), the gatekeeper for every image-generation action. It reads settingsStore.getState().licenseKey and refuses to proceed when empty. Image generation is a Chatbox AI licensed feature, so a missing license key is a hard precondition — the call never reaches the network.

Source

Thrown at src/renderer/stores/imageGenerationActions.ts:37

  addGeneratedImage,
  createRecord,
  IMAGE_GEN_LIST_QUERY_KEY,
  IMAGE_GEN_QUERY_KEY,
  imageGenerationStore,
  updateRecord,
} from './imageGenerationStore'
import { queryClient } from './queryClient'
import { settingsStore } from './settingsStore'

const log = getLogger('image-generation-actions')

// AbortController for cancelling in-flight polling
let currentAbortController: AbortController | null = null

function getLicenseKey(): string {
  const licenseKey = settingsStore.getState().licenseKey
  if (!licenseKey) {
    throw new Error('License key is required for image generation')
  }
  return licenseKey
}

function shouldUseAsyncPath(provider: string): boolean {
  return provider === ModelProviderEnum.ChatboxAI
}

function getErrorRecordUpdate(
  error: unknown
): Pick<ImageGeneration, 'status' | 'error' | 'errorCode' | 'errorItemUuid'> {
  const normalizedError = error instanceof Error ? error : new Error(`${error}`)
  return {
    status: 'error',
    error: normalizedError.message,
    errorCode: error instanceof BaseError ? error.code : undefined,
    errorItemUuid: undefined,
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 81571269ad)

Solutions

1. Guard at the UI layer: disable the image-generation entry point until settingsStore.licenseKey is non-empty.
2. Show the license-entry/settings modal before calling startImageGeneration.
3. Ensure logout/settings-reset clears currentGeneratingId so no stale action runs without a key.
4. Return a typed error (BaseError with code) instead of a generic Error so the UI can route to license setup.

Example fix

// before
function getLicenseKey(): string {
  const licenseKey = settingsStore.getState().licenseKey
  if (!licenseKey) throw new Error('License key is required for image generation')
  return licenseKey
}
// after
function getLicenseKey(): string {
  const licenseKey = settingsStore.getState().licenseKey
  if (!licenseKey) throw new LicenseRequiredError('image-generation')
  return licenseKey
}

const hasLicense = Boolean(settingsStore.getState().licenseKey)
if (!hasLicense) {
  openLicenseSettings()
  return
}

function hasLicenseKey(s: { licenseKey?: string | null }): s is { licenseKey: string } {
  return typeof s.licenseKey === 'string' && s.licenseKey.trim().length > 0
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any startImageGeneration / resumeGeneration / retryGeneration path calls getLicenseKey() before building the request, and licenseKey in settingsStore is empty/undefined. This happens when the user selected Chatbox AI image generation but never entered a license key, or the key was cleared on logout/settings reset.

Common situations: Fresh install with no license entered, user logged out (license cleared), settings reset, or a flow that reaches image generation without the settings gate the UI normally enforces.

Related errors

• No readable text content found in EPUB file
• Embedding batch failed: expected ${batchTexts.length}, got $
• Too many file IDs requested (max 100)
• Image generation requires an active chat session.
• Missing --prompt.

AI-assisted analysis of chatboxai/chatbox@81571269ad (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ce9fd43dc294f5f1. Report an issue: GitHub.