danny-avila/LibreChat · error · Error

Missing IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY environment variable.

Error message

Missing IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY environment variable.

What it means

Thrown by the closure-scoped getApiKey() inside createOpenAIImageTools when neither `fields.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY` nor `process.env.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY` is present and override is false. The factory resolves `fields.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY ?? getApiKey()`, so an explicitly passed field bypasses the env check entirely.

Source

Thrown at api/app/clients/tools/structured/OpenAIImageTools.js:77

 * @param {string} [fields.imageOutputType] - The image output type configuration
 * @param {string} [fields.fileStrategy] - The file storage strategy
 * @returns {Array<ReturnType<tool>>} - Array of image tools
 */
function createOpenAIImageTools(fields = {}) {
  /** @type {boolean} Used to initialize the Tool without necessary variables. */
  const override = fields.override ?? false;
  /** @type {boolean} */
  if (!override && !fields.isAgent) {
    throw new Error('This tool is only available for agents.');
  }
  const { req } = fields;
  const imageOutputType = fields.imageOutputType || EImageOutputType.PNG;
  const appFileStrategy = fields.fileStrategy;

  const getApiKey = () => {
    const apiKey = process.env.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY ?? '';
    if (!apiKey && !override) {
      throw new Error('Missing IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY environment variable.');
    }
    return apiKey;
  };

  let apiKey = fields.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY ?? getApiKey();
  const closureConfig = { apiKey };

  const imageModel = process.env.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_MODEL || 'gpt-image-1';

  let baseURL = 'https://api.openai.com/v1/';
  if (!override && process.env.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_BASEURL) {
    baseURL = extractBaseURL(process.env.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_BASEURL);
    closureConfig.baseURL = baseURL;
  }

  // Note: Azure may not yet support the latest image generation models
  if (
    !override &&

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ff282f900)

Solutions

1. Set `IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY=<key>` in .env and restart the server.
2. Pass the key explicitly via `fields.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY` if you resolve it from a secret manager at runtime.
3. Use `override: true` if you are only registering the tool for the manifest and will not call it.
4. Verify the variable name is exactly IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY (not IMAGE_GEN_API_KEY or OPENAI_IMAGE_KEY).

Example fix

// before
const tools = createOpenAIImageTools({ req, isAgent: true }); // throws in getApiKey()

// after
// .env: IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY=sk-...
const tools = createOpenAIImageTools({ req, isAgent: true });
// or pass directly:
const tools = createOpenAIImageTools({ req, isAgent: true, IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY: key });

function resolveImageGenOaiKey(fields = {}) {
  const key = fields.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY ?? process.env.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY;
  if (!key && !fields.override) {
    throw new Error('Set IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY (or pass fields.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY).');
  }
  return key;
}

function hasImageGenOaiKey(fields) {
  return Boolean(fields?.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY ?? process.env.IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY);
}

try {
  const tools = createOpenAIImageTools(fields);
} catch (e) {
  if (/Missing IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY/.test(e.message)) return null; // skip tool
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Building the OpenAI image tools (which calls getApiKey during factory setup) when IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY is unset in both the fields argument and process.env, and `fields.override` is not true.

Common situations: Using OpenAI image generation (gpt-image-1) without setting the dedicated IMAGE_GEN_OAI_API_KEY var (it is separate from OPENAI_API_KEY); pointing the tool at Azure/OpenAI-compatible base URL via IMAGE_GEN_OAI_BASEURL but forgetting the key; secret rotation that left the var empty; deploy without the secret injected.

Related errors

• Missing DALLE_API_KEY environment variable.
• Missing FLUX_API_KEY environment variable.
• Missing AZURE_AI_SEARCH_SERVICE_ENDPOINT, AZURE_AI_SEARCH_IN
• Gemini Image Generation requires one of: user-provided API k
• Missing ${this.envVarApiKey} or ${this.envVarSearchEngineId}

AI-assisted analysis of danny-avila/LibreChat@5ff282f900 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2165af0f0be81dca. Report an issue: GitHub.