pypa/pip · error · ConfigurationError

No such key

Error message

No such key - {orig_key}

What it means

Raised by Configuration.get_value() after merging all loaded configuration layers into a flat dict and failing to find the requested key. Before raising, it calls _disassemble_key to produce a better hint if the key lacks a dot. This surfaces when a user queries a config key that does not exist in any loaded layer (file or environment).

Solutions

1. Verify the key exists with `pip config list` or `pip config debug`.
2. Set the key first with `pip config set global.<name> <value>` if you intended it to exist.
3. Check the spelling and section prefix against pip's documented options.

Example fix

# before
pip config get global.index-url   # not set yet
# after
pip config set global.index-url https://pypi.org/simple
pip config get global.index-url

from pip._internal.configuration import Configuration

def config_get_safe(cfg: Configuration, key: str, default=None):
    try:
        return cfg.get_value(key)
    except Exception:  # ConfigurationError
        return default

from pip._internal.exceptions import ConfigurationError
try:
    value = cfg.get_value(key)
except ConfigurationError:
    value = None  # key not set; use default

When it happens

Trigger: Running `pip config get global.nonexistent` or `pip config get some.typo` where the key is not present in any pip.conf or PIP_ environment variable.

Common situations: Querying an option before it has been set; misspelling a key; expecting a default value to appear in config (pip only stores explicitly-set values, not defaults).

Related errors

• Got invalid value for load_only - should be one of
• Key does not contain dot separated section and key. Perhaps…
• Needed a specific file to be modifying.
• An error occurred while writing to the configuration file
• Can not perform a '--user' install. User site-packages are…

AI-assisted analysis of pypa/pip@f399c37189 (2026-08-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bb103c0abff14508. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/pip/_internal/configuration.py:157

        """Returns key-value pairs like dict.items() representing the loaded
        configuration
        """
        return self._dictionary.items()

    def get_value(self, key: str) -> Any:
        """Get a value from the configuration."""
        orig_key = key
        key = _normalize_name(key)
        try:
            clean_config: dict[str, Any] = {}
            for file_values in self._dictionary.values():
                clean_config.update(file_values)
            return clean_config[key]
        except KeyError:
            # disassembling triggers a more useful error message than simply
            # "No such key" in the case that the key isn't in the form command.option
            _disassemble_key(key)
            raise ConfigurationError(f"No such key - {orig_key}")

    def set_value(self, key: str, value: Any) -> None:
        """Modify a value in the configuration."""
        key = _normalize_name(key)
        self._ensure_have_load_only()

        assert self.load_only
        fname, parser = self._get_parser_to_modify()

        if parser is not None:
            section, name = _disassemble_key(key)

            # Modify the parser and the configuration
            if not parser.has_section(section):
                parser.add_section(section)
            parser.set(section, name, value)

        self._config[self.load_only].setdefault(fname, {})

View on GitHub (pinned to f399c37189)