invoke-ai/InvokeAI · error · ExternalProviderRequestError

DashScope response missing output: {data}

Error message

DashScope response missing output: {data}

What it means

The AlibabaCloud DashScope provider calls _parse_sync_response after a synchronous multimodal-generation request. It expects the JSON body to contain an 'output' object (the standard DashScope envelope). If 'output' is absent or not a dict, the provider cannot extract choices/images and raises ExternalProviderRequestError to surface the malformed response (with the raw data) to the caller.

Source

Thrown at invokeai/app/services/external_generation/providers/alibabacloud.py:221

            if status == "SUCCEEDED":
                return self._parse_async_response(output, request, request_id)
            if status in ("FAILED", "UNKNOWN"):
                message = output.get("message", "Unknown error")
                raise ExternalProviderRequestError(f"DashScope task {task_id} failed: {message}")

            self._logger.debug("DashScope task %s status: %s (%.0fs elapsed)", task_id, status, elapsed)
            time.sleep(_TASK_POLL_INTERVAL)

    def _parse_sync_response(
        self,
        data: dict[str, object],
        request: ExternalGenerationRequest,
        request_id: str | None,
    ) -> ExternalGenerationResult:
        """Parse the synchronous multimodal-generation response."""
        output = data.get("output")
        if not isinstance(output, dict):
            raise ExternalProviderRequestError(f"DashScope response missing output: {data}")

        choices = output.get("choices")
        if not isinstance(choices, list):
            raise ExternalProviderRequestError(f"DashScope response missing choices: {data}")

        images: list[ExternalGeneratedImage] = []
        for choice in choices:
            if not isinstance(choice, dict):
                continue
            message = choice.get("message")
            if not isinstance(message, dict):
                continue
            content = message.get("content")
            if not isinstance(content, list):
                continue
            for part in content:
                if not isinstance(part, dict):
                    continue

View on GitHub (pinned to 0b6a024f2f)

Solutions

1. Log the full response body in the message to identify what DashScope actually returned (the error already embeds {data})
2. Verify external_alibabacloud_base_url points at the correct DashScope endpoint (e.g. https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com) and not a proxy that alters payloads
3. Confirm the model_id is in _SYNC_MODELS so the sync endpoint is the right API for that model
4. Check DashScope account status/quota — some throttled/failed responses come back 200 with a non-standard body
5. Upgrade InvokeAI in case the provider was updated for a DashScope schema change

Example fix

# before
output = data.get("output")
if not isinstance(output, dict):
    raise ExternalProviderRequestError(f"DashScope response missing output: {data}")
# after
output = data.get("output")
if output is None and isinstance(data.get("code"), str):
    raise ExternalProviderRequestError(
        f"DashScope API error {data.get('code')}: {data.get('message')}"
    )
if not isinstance(output, dict):
    raise ExternalProviderRequestError(f"DashScope response missing output: {data}")

import requests
def precheck(base_url: str, api_key: str) -> None:
    r = requests.get(f"{base_url.rstrip('/')}/api/v1/models", headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"}, timeout=10)
    r.raise_for_status()

def has_output(data: dict) -> bool:
    return isinstance(data.get("output"), dict)

try:
    result = provider.generate(request)
except ExternalProviderRequestError as e:
    if "missing output" in str(e):
        log.error("DashScope returned a non-standard envelope: %s", e)
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: POST to /api/v1/services/aigc/multimodal-generation/generation returns 200 but the JSON body lacks an 'output' key, or 'output' is null/list/string — e.g. an API error body, a proxy/WAF HTML or JSON error page, or a DashScope schema change.

Common situations: Using a custom external_alibabacloud_base_url pointing at a gateway that rewrites responses; DashScope returning an error envelope with only 'code'/'message' while still returning HTTP 200; region mismatch (dashscope-intl vs dashscope.cn endpoints) returning unexpected bodies; API version drift.

Related errors

• DashScope response missing choices: {data}
• DashScope request failed with status {response.status_code}
• DashScope async response missing results: {output}
• DashScope async response contained no images: {output}
• Mode '{request.mode}' requires an init image for {request.mo

AI-assisted analysis of invoke-ai/InvokeAI@0b6a024f2f (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9d3e285015d2187c. Report an issue: GitHub.