openai/openai-python · error · ValueError

Expected a non-empty value for `project_id` but received {pr

Error message

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

What it means

The sync `retrieve` on the admin projects resource requires a non-empty `project_id` for GET `/organization/projects/{project_id}`. The SDK raises this ValueError before the request when the value is None or empty, since there is no meaningful URL to fetch.

Source

Thrown at src/openai/resources/admin/organization/projects/projects.py:282

        extra_headers: Headers | None = None,
        extra_query: Query | None = None,
        extra_body: Body | None = None,
        timeout: float | httpx2.Timeout | None | NotGiven = not_given,
    ) -> Project:
        """
        Retrieves a project.

        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 project_id:
            raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-empty value for `project_id` but received {project_id!r}")
        return self._get(
            path_template("/organization/projects/{project_id}", project_id=project_id),
            options=make_request_options(
                extra_headers=extra_headers,
                extra_query=extra_query,
                extra_body=extra_body,
                timeout=timeout,
                security={"admin_api_key_auth": True},
            ),
            cast_to=Project,
        )

    def update(
        self,
        project_id: str,
        *,
        external_key_id: Optional[str] | Omit = omit,
        geography: Optional[str] | Omit = omit,

View on GitHub (pinned to 9917c6e28e)

Solutions

  1. Ensure the project id is provided and looks like 'proj_...'
  2. Check env var name and export status in CI
  3. Validate ids at process start and fail fast
  4. Fetch ids via projects.list() instead of hardcoding

Example fix

# before
project = client.admin.organization.projects.retrieve(project_id)

# after
if not project_id:
    raise SystemExit("project_id is required")
project = client.admin.organization.projects.retrieve(project_id)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

project_id = (os.environ.get("OPENAI_PROJECT_ID") or "").strip()
if not project_id:
    raise SystemExit("OPENAI_PROJECT_ID is not set")

Type guard

def valid_project_id(v: object) -> TypeGuard[str]:
    return isinstance(v, str) and v.startswith("proj_")

Try / catch

try:
    project = client.admin.organization.projects.retrieve(project_id)
except ValueError as e:
    if "project_id" in str(e):
        raise ConfigError(str(e))
    raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `client.admin.organization.projects.retrieve(project_id='')` or passing an unset variable when fetching project details (name, users, rate limits).

Common situations: The project id env var (e.g. OPENAI_PROJECT_ID style config) is not set in the current shell/CI, or a UI/backend passes an empty string when no project is selected.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of openai/openai-python@9917c6e28e (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/017265081017c6ac. Report an issue: GitHub.