openai/openai-python · error · ValueError

Expected a non-empty value for `container_id` but received {

Error message

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

What it means

The OpenAI Python SDK raises ValueError when a required path parameter is empty before making any HTTP request. Here, `client.containers.files.content.retrieve(container_id, file_id)` was called with a falsy `container_id` (None or empty string). This is a client-side guard so an invalid request never reaches the API.

Source

Thrown at src/openai/resources/containers/files/content.py:68

        extra_headers: Headers | None = None,
        extra_query: Query | None = None,
        extra_body: Body | None = None,
        timeout: float | httpx2.Timeout | None | NotGiven = not_given,
    ) -> _legacy_response.HttpxBinaryResponseContent:
        """
        Retrieve Container File Content

        Args:
          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 container_id:
            raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-empty value for `container_id` but received {container_id!r}")
        if not file_id:
            raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-empty value for `file_id` but received {file_id!r}")
        extra_headers = {"Accept": "application/binary", **(extra_headers or {})}
        return self._get(
            path_template(
                "/containers/{container_id}/files/{file_id}/content", container_id=container_id, file_id=file_id
            ),
            options=make_request_options(
                extra_headers=extra_headers,
                extra_query=extra_query,
                extra_body=extra_body,
                timeout=timeout,
                security={"bearer_auth": True},
            ),
            cast_to=_legacy_response.HttpxBinaryResponseContent,
        )

View on GitHub (pinned to 9917c6e28e)

Solutions

  1. Check where container_id comes from and ensure it is a non-empty string before calling retrieve
  2. Add a guard: if not container_id: raise/log before the API call
  3. Verify you created the container and are using container.id from the response

Example fix

// before
content = client.containers.files.content.retrieve(container_id, file_id).parse()
// after
if not container_id:
    raise ValueError("container_id is required")
content = client.containers.files.content.retrieve(container_id, file_id).parse()
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if not container_id or not isinstance(container_id, str):
    raise ValueError(f"container_id must be a non-empty string, got {container_id!r}")
content = client.containers.files.content.retrieve(container_id, file_id).parse()

Type guard

def is_valid_id(value: object) -> bool:
    return isinstance(value, str) and bool(value.strip())

Try / catch

try:
    content = client.containers.files.content.retrieve(container_id, file_id).parse()
except ValueError as e:
    if "container_id" in str(e):
        raise HTTPException(400, str(e))
    raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling containers.files.content.retrieve with container_id='' or None, e.g. when the ID variable was never assigned, came from an unset config field, or a prior create call returned an object without an id.

Common situations: Reading container IDs from environment variables or config that are missing; using a response field that doesn't exist (getattr returning None); typos in variable names passed to the call.

Understand the failure class

Background: Missing required parameter errors: what 'X is required' and 'the required X param is missing' mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of openai/openai-python@9917c6e28e (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e9cb788ced1e82cf. Report an issue: GitHub.