mem0ai/mem0 · error · Error

HTTP ${resp.status}: ${detail}

Error message

HTTP ${resp.status}: ${detail}

What it means

Raised inside require_admin when authentication came via ADMIN_API_KEY or AUTH_DISABLED, a default user was found in the users table, but that default user's role is not 'admin' (e.g. 'member'). The bootstrap path assumes the first user is an admin; a non-admin first user blocks admin access for the admin-key/disabled paths. This is a 403.

Source

Thrown at cli/node/src/backend/platform.ts:93

			try {
				const body = (await resp.json()) as Record<string, unknown>;
				detail =
					((body.detail ?? body.message ?? JSON.stringify(body)) as string) ??
					resp.statusText;
			} catch {
				detail = resp.statusText;
			}
			throw new APIError(path, detail);
		}
		if (!resp.ok) {
			let detail: string = resp.statusText;
			try {
				const body = (await resp.json()) as Record<string, unknown>;
				detail = (body.detail ?? body.message ?? resp.statusText) as string;
			} catch {
				/* ignore */
			}
			throw new Error(`HTTP ${resp.status}: ${detail}`);
		}
		if (resp.status === 204) {
			return {};
		}

		const data = await resp.json();

		// Pull the unclaimed-Agent-Mode notice out of the body (or the header
		// fallback for endpoints returning non-dict / non-dict-leading payloads)
		// and stash for end-of-command surfacing.
		let notice: string | null = null;
		if (
			data &&
			typeof data === "object" &&
			!Array.isArray(data) &&
			"mem0_notice" in data
		) {
			notice = (data as Record<string, unknown>).mem0_notice as string;

View on GitHub (pinned to 001c235229)

Solutions

1. Promote the first user to admin: UPDATE users SET role='admin' WHERE id=<first_user_id>, or re-create the DB so /setup can register the first user as admin.
2. Authenticate as an existing user whose role is 'admin' with a Bearer token instead of ADMIN_API_KEY/AUTH_DISABLED.
3. If the users table has no admin at all, wipe users and re-run /setup so the first registered account becomes admin.

Example fix

-- before
SELECT role FROM users LIMIT 1;  -- 'member'

-- after
UPDATE users SET role='admin' WHERE id = (SELECT id FROM users ORDER BY created_at LIMIT 1);

users = admin_client.get(f"{BASE}/users").json()
if users and getattr(users[0], "role", "member") != "admin":
    raise RuntimeError("First user must have role='admin' for ADMIN_API_KEY/AUTH_DISABLED paths")

When it happens

Trigger: AUTH_DISABLED=true or ADMIN_API_KEY set, the first user in the users table was created with a non-admin role (custom DB seed, manual insert, or a role change), then calling an admin endpoint such as DELETE /memories or POST /reset.

Common situations: Someone seeded the database with a regular member user before any admin existed; an operator downgraded the first user's role in the DB; a deployment script creates a default non-admin user for testing.

Related errors

• At least one entity ID is required for deleteEntities.
• Mem0 memory add failed: ${(addResp.message as string) || 'un
• Timed out waiting for memory event ${eventId} to complete
• Authentication failed. Your API key may be invalid or expire
• Authentication failed. Your API key may be invalid or expire

AI-assisted analysis of mem0ai/mem0@001c235229 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/45437a01329d7a32. Report an issue: GitHub.