openai/openai-python · error · ValueError

Expected a non-empty value for `conversation_id` but receive

Error message

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

What it means

The OpenAI SDK requires a non-empty `conversation_id` to build `/conversations/{conversation_id}`; client.conversations.retrieve raises ValueError client-side when the id is falsy, before any HTTP request.

Source

Thrown at src/openai/resources/conversations/conversations.py:137

        extra_headers: Headers | None = None,
        extra_query: Query | None = None,
        extra_body: Body | None = None,
        timeout: float | httpx2.Timeout | None | NotGiven = not_given,
    ) -> Conversation:
        """
        Get a conversation

        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 conversation_id:
            raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-empty value for `conversation_id` but received {conversation_id!r}")
        return self._get(
            path_template("/conversations/{conversation_id}", conversation_id=conversation_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=Conversation,
        )

    def update(
        self,
        conversation_id: str,
        *,
        metadata: Optional[Metadata],
        # Use the following arguments if you need to pass additional parameters to the API that aren't available via kwargs.

View on GitHub (pinned to 9917c6e28e)

Solutions

  1. Validate the conversation id is present and non-empty before retrieving
  2. Make the id a required route/schema field
  3. Log the offending value to find the upstream gap

Example fix

// before
conv = client.conversations.retrieve(conv_id)
// after
if not conv_id:
    raise ValueError("conversation_id is required")
conv = client.conversations.retrieve(conv_id)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if not conversation_id:
    raise ValueError('conversation_id is required to retrieve a conversation')
conv = client.conversations.retrieve(conversation_id)

Type guard

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

Try / catch

try:
    conv = client.conversations.retrieve(conversation_id)
except ValueError as e:
    if 'conversation_id' in str(e):
        return {'error': str(e)}, 400
    raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling conversations.retrieve('') or (None) — e.g. fetching a conversation referenced by an unset variable or a URL param that was omitted.

Common situations: Webhooks or deep links where the conversation id query param is optional; databases with nullable conversation id columns.

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/cbe3d981c952838f. Report an issue: GitHub.