deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness · error · LlmError

INVALID_CREDENTIAL

INVALID_CREDENTIAL

Error message

${pkg}: the API key resolved from ${ref} is blank; set ${ref} to the raw key (the web Models page writes it) or export it in the launching environment

What it means

Error "${pkg}: the API key resolved from ${ref} is blank; set ${ref} to the raw key (the web Models page writes it) or export it in the launching environment" thrown in deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Source

Thrown at packages/llm/llm/src/index.ts:145

 * never enters the message: `ref` names where to fix it, and echoing any part
 * of a secret into a log or a UI is the failure this diagnosis avoids.
 *
 * Lives beside {@link LlmError} rather than in `./api-key.ts` so the predicate
 * module stays dependency-free; both adapters share this one diagnosis instead
 * of keeping near-identical local copies.
 * @param raw - the credential exactly as supplied.
 * @param pkg - the refusing package name, prefixed to the diagnostic.
 * @param ref - the credential reference the value resolved through.
 * @returns the trimmed, usable key.
 */
export function assertUsableApiKey(raw: string, pkg: string, ref: string): string {
  const checked = normalizeApiKey(raw)
  if (checked.ok) return checked.value
  // The Models page is named as the writer it usually is, not as the only one:
  // the same value can arrive from a hand-edited .env or a shell export in a
  // composition that mounts no credentials seam at all, where directing the
  // user to a page that deployment does not serve would be a dead end.
  throw new LlmError(
    checked.reason === 'empty'
      ? `${pkg}: the API key resolved from ${ref} is blank; set ${ref} to the raw key`
        + ' (the web Models page writes it) or export it in the launching environment'
      : `${pkg}: the API key resolved from ${ref} contains characters no HTTP header can carry;`
        + ` set ${ref} to the raw key alone (the web Models page writes it)`,
    INVALID_CREDENTIAL_CODE,
  )
}

/** One model call whose config and adapter registration were resolved together. */
export interface PreparedLlmCall {
  /** Detached, deep-frozen config with any adapter-owned default materialized. */
  readonly config: LlmCallConfig
  /** Immutable retry policy captured with the adapter registration. */
  readonly retryPolicy: ResolvedRetryPolicy
  /** Detached context metadata resolved with the registration-bound call. */
  readonly context?: LlmModelContext
  /** Exact model modalities captured with the adapter dispatch generation. */

View on GitHub (pinned to b150a551b8)

Solutions

1. Set the referenced variable to the raw API key (the web Models page writes it) or export it in the launching environment.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/llm/llm/src/index.ts:145 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness@b150a551b8 (2026-08-24). Data as JSON: /api/errors/06425f293f323095. Report an issue: GitHub.