mem0ai/mem0 · critical · NodeOperationError

At least one message is required

Error message

At least one message is required

What it means

A RuntimeError raised at module import time of server/main.py: JWT-based authentication is compiled in unless AUTH_DISABLED=true, and it requires the JWT_SECRET env var to sign/verify tokens. If AUTH_DISABLED is falsy and JWT_SECRET is empty/unset, the server refuses to boot with this message rather than running with an insecure default secret.

Source

Thrown at integrations/n8n-nodes-mem0/nodes/Mem0/Mem0.node.ts:405

				// First-party usage attribution: the backend reads `source` (same as OpenClaw).
				qs: { source: 'N8N', ...(qs ?? {}) },
			};
			return (await this.helpers.httpRequestWithAuthentication.call(
				this,
				'mem0Api',
				options,
			)) as IDataObject;
		};

		for (let i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
			try {
				const operation = this.getNodeParameter('operation', i) as string;
				let responseData: IDataObject | IDataObject[] = {};

				if (operation === 'add') {
					const messagesUi = this.getNodeParameter('messages.message', i, []) as IDataObject[];
					if (!messagesUi.length) {
						throw new NodeOperationError(this.getNode(), 'At least one message is required', {
							itemIndex: i,
						});
					}
					const addFields = this.getNodeParameter('addFields', i, {}) as IDataObject;
					const body: IDataObject = {
						messages: messagesUi.map((m) => ({ role: m.role, content: m.content })),
						infer: addFields.infer !== undefined ? addFields.infer : true,
					};
					const userId = this.getNodeParameter('userId', i, '') as string;
					if (userId) body.user_id = userId;
					if (addFields.agent_id) body.agent_id = addFields.agent_id;
					if (addFields.app_id) body.app_id = addFields.app_id;
					if (addFields.run_id) body.run_id = addFields.run_id;
					if (addFields.metadata) {
						try {
							body.metadata =
								typeof addFields.metadata === 'string'
									? JSON.parse(addFields.metadata as string)

View on GitHub (pinned to 001c235229)

Solutions

1. Generate a strong secret and set it: JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 48) in server/.env (or the container environment), then restart.
2. For purely local development you may set AUTH_DISABLED=true instead — never in production or on a network-reachable host.
3. If using Docker Compose, ensure the env var is passed (environment: or env_file:) to the api service and the .env file is actually mounted.
4. Verify with: docker exec <container> printenv JWT_SECRET (name only — do not log the value).

Example fix

# before  (.env)
POSTGRES_URL=...

# after  (.env)
POSTGRES_URL=...
JWT_SECRET=<output of: openssl rand -base64 48>

import os, secrets

def require_jwt_secret() -> str:
    secret = os.environ.get("JWT_SECRET", "").strip()
    if not secret and os.environ.get("AUTH_DISABLED", "").lower() != "true":
        secret = secrets.token_urlsafe(48)  # dev-only fallback; persist it or boot fails next time
    if not secret:
        raise RuntimeError("JWT_SECRET missing and AUTH_DISABLED!=true")
    return secret

When it happens

Trigger: Starting the FastAPI server (python main.py, uvicorn, or the Docker container) without JWT_SECRET in the environment/.env and without AUTH_DISABLED=true. Typical after cloning the repo, copying .env.example incompletely, or running a minimal docker run that only passes DB vars.

Common situations: First self-hosted deployment; CI pipeline that only sets POSTGRES_* variables; upgrading to a server version that introduced mandatory JWT_SECRET; .env file not mounted into the container so the var never reaches the process.

Related errors

• Resource not found: ${path}
• Authentication failed. Your API key may be invalid or expire
• Bad request to ${path}: ${detail}
• HTTP ${resp.status}: ${detail}
• Either memoryId or --all is required

AI-assisted analysis of mem0ai/mem0@001c235229 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e1357d9e1d140516. Report an issue: GitHub.