openai/openai-python · error · ValueError

Expected a non-empty value for `file_id` but received {file_

Error message

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

What it means

Retrieving a vector store file requires a non-empty `file_id`. The SDK validates it before the GET to `/vector_stores/{vector_store_id}/files/{file_id}` and raises ValueError for falsy values, since the path segment would be empty.

Source

Thrown at src/openai/resources/vector_stores/files.py:145

        extra_body: Body | None = None,
        timeout: float | httpx2.Timeout | None | NotGiven = not_given,
    ) -> VectorStoreFile:
        """
        Retrieves a vector store file.

        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 vector_store_id:
            raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-empty value for `vector_store_id` but received {vector_store_id!r}")
        if not file_id:
            raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-empty value for `file_id` but received {file_id!r}")
        extra_headers = {"OpenAI-Beta": "assistants=v2", **(extra_headers or {})}
        return self._get(
            path_template(
                "/vector_stores/{vector_store_id}/files/{file_id}", vector_store_id=vector_store_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=VectorStoreFile,
        )

    def update(
        self,
        file_id: str,

View on GitHub (pinned to 9917c6e28e)

Solutions

1. Capture the id at upload: `f = client.files.create(...)` then pass `f.id`
2. Guard loops: skip entries without an id before calling retrieve
3. Confirm you are passing the string id (starts with `file-`), not a file object

Example fix

# before
client.vector_stores.files.retrieve(vector_store_id=vs_id, file_id=None)

# after
up = client.files.create(file=open("doc.pdf", "rb"), purpose="assistants")
client.vector_stores.files.retrieve(vector_store_id=vs_id, file_id=up.id)

if not file_id:
    raise ValueError(f"file_id is empty: {file_id!r}")
f = client.vector_stores.files.retrieve(vector_store_id=vs_id, file_id=file_id)

from openai.types.vector_stores import VectorStoreFile

def valid_file_id(f: object) -> bool:
    return isinstance(f, VectorStoreFile) and bool(f.id) or (isinstance(f, str) and bool(f))

try:
    f = client.vector_stores.files.retrieve(vector_store_id=vs_id, file_id=file_id)
except ValueError as e:
    logger.error("Invalid file_id: %s", e)
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `client.vector_stores.files.retrieve(vector_store_id=..., file_id="" or None)`, e.g. iterating over a list where a file entry has no id, or using a `file-xxx` string that was never assigned.

Common situations: Uploading a file but not capturing `file_obj.id`, reading ids from parsed JSON with a missing key, or passing a `File` object instead of its id string.

Related errors

• Expected a non-empty value for `vector_store_id` but receive
• Pagination is only supported with mappings
• No next page expected; please check `.has_next_page()` befor
• max_retries cannot be None. If you want to disable retries,
• Unexpected JSON data type, {type(json_data)}, cannot merge w

AI-assisted analysis of openai/openai-python@9917c6e28e (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d6da42cbc80039df. Report an issue: GitHub.