openai/openai-python · error · ValueError

Expected a non-empty value for `certificate_id` but received

Error message

Expected a non-empty value for `certificate_id` but received {certificate_id!r}

What it means

The sync Admin Certificates `retrieve` method requires a non-empty `certificate_id`; the GET /organization/certificates/{certificate_id} path cannot be built without it, so the SDK raises ValueError immediately.

Source

Thrown at src/openai/resources/admin/organization/certificates.py:136

        """
        Get a certificate that has been uploaded to the organization.

        You can get a certificate regardless of whether it is active or not.

        Args:
          include: A list of additional fields to include in the response. Currently the only
              supported value is `content` to fetch the PEM content of the certificate.

          extra_headers: Send extra headers

          extra_query: Add additional query parameters to the request

          extra_body: Add additional JSON properties to the request

          timeout: Override the client-level default timeout for this request, in seconds
        """
        if not certificate_id:
            raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-empty value for `certificate_id` but received {certificate_id!r}")
        return self._get(
            path_template("/organization/certificates/{certificate_id}", certificate_id=certificate_id),
            options=make_request_options(
                extra_headers=extra_headers,
                extra_query=extra_query,
                extra_body=extra_body,
                timeout=timeout,
                query=maybe_transform({"include": include}, certificate_retrieve_params.CertificateRetrieveParams),
                security={"admin_api_key_auth": True},
            ),
            cast_to=Certificate,
        )

    def update(
        self,
        certificate_id: str,
        *,
        name: str | Omit = omit,

View on GitHub (pinned to 9917c6e28e)

Solutions

Capture the id from the create() response and persist it
Validate non-empty before calling retrieve

Example fix

# before
client.admin.certificates.retrieve(parsed_id)
# after
if not parsed_id:
    raise ValueError('failed to parse certificate id')
client.admin.certificates.retrieve(parsed_id)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if not certificate_id:
    raise ValueError('certificate_id is required')
client.admin.certificates.retrieve(certificate_id)

Type guard

def is_nonempty_id(v: object) -> bool:
    return isinstance(v, str) and bool(v.strip())

Prevention

Persist ids returned from create()
Test id-parsing logic against unexpected formats

When it happens

Trigger: client.admin.certificates.retrieve('') or retrieve(None), e.g. parsing an id from a filename or URL that didn't match.

Common situations: Extracting certificate ids with a regex/split that yields '' on unexpected input, or storing certificates without persisting the returned id.

Understand the failure class

SSL/TLS and certificate errors — how TLS handshakes and certificate validation fail.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of openai/openai-python@9917c6e28e (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3d05f1a3291be6ab. Report an issue: GitHub.