lfnovo/open-notebook · error · HTTPException

Failed to create credential

Error message

Failed to create credential

What it means

Catch-all 500 from POST /api/credentials when creating a credential fails with an unexpected exception — e.g. DB write failure, encryption error, or an unvalidated field combination reaching domain code.

Source

Thrown at api/routers/credentials.py:207

            endpoint_llm=request.endpoint_llm,
            endpoint_embedding=request.endpoint_embedding,
            endpoint_stt=request.endpoint_stt,
            endpoint_tts=request.endpoint_tts,
            project=request.project,
            location=request.location,
            credentials_path=request.credentials_path,
            num_ctx=request.num_ctx,
        )
        await cred.save()
        return credential_to_response(cred, 0)

    except HTTPException:
        raise
    except OpenNotebookError:
        raise
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Error creating credential: {e}")
        raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="Failed to create credential")


@router.get("/{credential_id}", response_model=CredentialResponse)
async def get_credential(credential_id: str):
    """Get a specific credential by ID. Never returns api_key."""
    try:
        cred = await Credential.get(credential_id)
        models = await cred.get_linked_models()
        return credential_to_response(cred, len(models))
    except HTTPException:
        raise
    except OpenNotebookError:
        raise
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Error fetching credential {credential_id}: {e}")
        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Credential not found")

View on GitHub (pinned to a7de90d38a)

Solutions

1. Confirm OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY is set in the API process environment
2. Check logs for 'Error creating credential: ...' to see the real exception
3. Verify the DB is up and migrations ran (API startup logs)
4. Retry the POST with the same payload once infrastructure is confirmed healthy

// before creating, confirm required fields and a unique provider+slug
if (!payload.api_key || !payload.provider) throw new Error('api_key and provider are required');
const existing = await api.listCredentials();
if (existing.some(c => c.provider === payload.provider && c.slug === payload.slug)) {
  // update instead of create
}

try {
  const cred = await api.createCredential(payload);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.status === 500) showError('Could not save credential — check API logs and encryption key');
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: POST /api/credentials with a valid-looking payload while SurrealDB is down, when the encryption key env var is unset so the secret cannot be encrypted, or when a duplicate/invalid provider+slug combination trips lower-level code.

Common situations: OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY missing in the API environment (credentials are encrypted at rest), DB unreachable, or API restart needed after adding the key.

Related errors

• Failed to check environment status
• Failed to list credentials
• Failed to list credentials for provider
• Failed to update credential
• Failed to delete credential

AI-assisted analysis of lfnovo/open-notebook@a7de90d38a (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1df4d05b279cf298. Report an issue: GitHub.