danny-avila/LibreChat · error

Invalid response from the STT API

Error message

Invalid response from the STT API

What it means

After axios.post returns, sttRequest checks response.status; anything other than 200 throws. The surrounding try/catch logs the failure via logAxiosError (which records the upstream status/body) and re-throws, so callers see 'Invalid response from the STT API' while the detailed status lives in the log. Non-200 usually means auth (401/403), bad request (400), throttling (429), or upstream error (5xx).

Source

Thrown at api/server/services/Files/Audio/STTService.js:319

    const [url, data, headers] = strategy.call(
      this,
      sttSchema,
      audioReadStream,
      audioFile,
      language,
    );

    const options = { headers };

    applyAxiosProxyConfig(options, url);
    applySSRFSafeAgentIfDirect(options, url, allowedAddresses);

    try {
      const response = await axios.post(url, data, options);

      if (response.status !== 200) {
        throw new Error('Invalid response from the STT API');
      }

      if (!response.data || !response.data.text) {
        throw new Error('Missing data in response from the STT API');
      }

      return response.data.text.trim();
    } catch (error) {
      logAxiosError({ message: `STT request failed for provider ${provider}:`, error });
      throw error;
    }
  }

  /**
   * Processes a speech-to-text request.
   * @async
   * @param {Object} req - The request object.
   * @param {Object} res - The response object.

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ff282f900)

Solutions

1. Read the logAxiosError output to get the real upstream status and body.
2. Verify the provider apiKey, instanceName, deploymentName, and apiVersion in librechat.yaml.
3. For 429/5xx, retry with exponential backoff; for 401/403 rotate and re-set the key.
4. Confirm the resolved URL points at the intended STT deployment.

try {
  const text = await stt.sttRequest(provider, sttSchema, { audioBuffer, audioFile, language }, allowedAddresses);
} catch (err) {
  // logAxiosError already recorded the upstream status/body server-side
  if (/Invalid response from the STT API/.test(err.message)) {
    return res.status(502).json({ error: 'STT provider returned an error status' });
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Azure/OpenAI-compatible STT endpoint returns a non-200 status: wrong apiKey (401), wrong deployment/instance (404), stale api-version (400), rate limit (429), or provider outage (5xx).

Common situations: Rotated key not updated in config; deployment deleted in Azure; apiVersion pinned to a deprecated value; burst of requests hitting a throttle; transient provider 5xx.

Related errors

• Failed to fetch image from URL. Status: ${response.status}
• Request failed with status ${response.status}: ${json.error.
• Missing data in response from the STT API
• No STT schema is set. Did you configure STT in the custom co
• Multiple providers are set. Please set only one provider.

AI-assisted analysis of danny-avila/LibreChat@5ff282f900 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/68839558770f0566. Report an issue: GitHub.