different-ai/openwork · error

DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL must be an absolute http or https URL.

Error message

DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL must be an absolute http or https URL.

What it means

This error is thrown by normalizeConfiguredPublicApiBaseUrl when the DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL environment variable is set but cannot be parsed as an absolute URL by the URL constructor — e.g. it lacks a scheme or is malformed. The variable defines the externally visible base URL for building public API links, so it must be a valid absolute http/https URL.

Source

Thrown at ee/apps/den-api/src/request-url.ts:96

function isLocalPublicApiHost(hostname: string): boolean {
  const normalized = hostname.toLowerCase().replace(/^\[|\]$/g, "")
  return normalized === "localhost"
    || normalized.endsWith(".localhost")
    || normalized === "127.0.0.1"
    || normalized === "::1"
}

export function normalizeConfiguredPublicApiBaseUrl(
  value: string | undefined,
  options: { allowInsecureHttp: boolean },
): string | undefined {
  const configured = value?.trim()
  if (!configured) return undefined

  let url: URL
  try {
    url = new URL(configured)
  } catch {
    throw new Error("DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL must be an absolute http or https URL.")
  }

  if (url.protocol !== "http:" && url.protocol !== "https:") {
    throw new Error("DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL must be an absolute http or https URL.")
  }
  if (url.username || url.password || url.search || url.hash) {
    throw new Error("DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL cannot contain credentials, a query string, or a fragment.")
  }
  if (url.protocol !== "https:" && !options.allowInsecureHttp && !isLocalPublicApiHost(url.hostname)) {
    throw new Error("DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL must use HTTPS outside development and localhost.")
  }

  const pathname = url.pathname.replace(/\/+$/, "")
  return `${url.origin}${pathname === "/" ? "" : pathname}`
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2b7df46e8a)

Solutions

1. Set DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL to a fully qualified URL including scheme, e.g. https://api.example.com.
2. Check the deployment environment/secret store for stray whitespace or quotes around the value and trim them.
3. If the variable is optional in your setup, unset it entirely instead of leaving an invalid partial value.
4. Add a startup env validation step (e.g. Zod .url()) so misconfiguration fails fast with a clear message.

Example fix

// before
DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL=api.openworklabs.com
// after
DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL=https://api.openworklabs.com

const v = process.env.DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL?.trim()
if (v) {
  let u: URL
  try { u = new URL(v) } catch { throw new Error("DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL must be an absolute http or https URL") }
  if (u.protocol !== "http:" && u.protocol !== "https:") throw new Error("DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL must be an absolute http or https URL")
}

function isAbsoluteHttpUrl(value: string | undefined): value is string {
  if (!value) return false
  try { const u = new URL(value); return u.protocol === "http:" || u.protocol === "https:" } catch { return false }
}

try {
  const baseUrl = apiPublicUrl(env)
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.includes("DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL")) {
    throw new Error(`Startup config invalid: set DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL to e.g. https://api.example.com (${e.message})`)
  }
  throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: apiPublicUrl reads DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL with a value like "api.example.com", "localhost:3000", "//host", or containing spaces; new URL(configured) throws and this Error propagates at startup or first URL build.

Common situations: Deploy config omits the https:// scheme; a trailing quote/space leaked into the env var; a relative path was supplied; the value was set in one environment but pasted incorrectly in another (Docker env, Terraform, Railway/Render dashboard).

Related errors

• DEN_DIAGNOSTICS_ORIGIN must be an absolute http or https ori
• DEN_DIAGNOSTICS_ORIGIN cannot contain credentials, a path, a
• ${envName} must be an absolute https origin.
• DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL cannot contain credentials, a query strin
• DEN_API_PUBLIC_URL must use HTTPS outside development and lo

AI-assisted analysis of different-ai/openwork@2b7df46e8a (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4610f70d6a1e89c3. Report an issue: GitHub.