openai/openai-python · error · ValueError

Expected a non-empty value for `skill_id` but received {skil

Error message

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

What it means

Standard SDK guard: skills.content.retrieve (sync) requires a non-empty skill_id path parameter. Passing an empty string or another falsy value (None via default) raises ValueError before any HTTP request is made, because the request path /skills/{skill_id}/content would be malformed.

Source

Thrown at src/openai/resources/skills/content.py:67

        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:
        """
        Download a skill zip bundle by its ID.

        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 skill_id:
            raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-empty value for `skill_id` but received {skill_id!r}")
        extra_headers = {"Accept": "application/binary", **(extra_headers or {})}
        return self._get(
            path_template("/skills/{skill_id}/content", skill_id=skill_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,
        )


class AsyncContent(AsyncAPIResource):
    @cached_property
    def with_raw_response(self) -> AsyncContentWithRawResponse:
        """

View on GitHub (pinned to 9917c6e28e)

Solutions

Check the skill_id variable is a non-empty string before calling retrieve
Log or default the value where it originates (env var, config, loop)
If it comes from an upstream API response, inspect that response for the missing id field

Example fix

# before
content = client.skills.content.retrieve(skill_id=skill_id)

# after
if not skill_id:
    raise ValueError("skill_id is required")
content = client.skills.content.retrieve(skill_id=skill_id)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if not isinstance(skill_id, str) or not skill_id.strip():
    raise ValueError(f"valid skill_id required, got {skill_id!r}")
content = client.skills.content.retrieve(skill_id=skill_id)

Type guard

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

Prevention

Validate IDs at the system boundary (env vars, request params, config files)
Use IDE typing (skill_id: str) plus a runtime strip() check
Derive IDs from SDK responses instead of hand-typed strings

When it happens

Trigger: Calling client.skills.content.retrieve(skill_id=""), with None, or with a variable that was never populated (e.g. from a config value or upstream response field that is empty).

Common situations: Reading skill IDs from environment variables or config that are unset; iterating a list where an entry is blank; chaining from a create/list response whose ID field was missed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of openai/openai-python@9917c6e28e (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ec802fb187dab0fc. Report an issue: GitHub.