pypa/pip · error · ConfigurationError

No such key - {orig_key}

Error message

No such key - {orig_key}

What it means

Raised as ConfigurationError in Configuration.get_value() at configuration.py:157 when the normalized key is not found in the merged configuration dictionary. Note _disassemble_key is called first (line 156), so this specific message only appears when the key HAS a dot (a dot-less key raises error [52] instead). The orig_key in the message is the un-normalized key the caller supplied.

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 d7d0d0a394)

Solutions

1. Verify the key exists with 'pip config list' or 'pip config debug'.
2. Check spelling — keys are normalized (lowercase, dashes for underscores), so use the canonical form like 'global.index-url'.
3. Ensure Configuration.load() has been called before get_value().
4. If using get_value programmatically, catch ConfigurationError to handle missing keys gracefully.

Example fix

# before
pip config get global.retries  # not set -> error
# after
pip config set global.retries 5
pip config get global.retries

from pip._internal.configuration import Configuration
from pip._internal.exceptions import ConfigurationError

def safe_get_value(cfg: Configuration, key: str, default=None):
    cfg.load()
    try:
        return cfg.get_value(key)
    except ConfigurationError:
        return default

# Usage
val = safe_get_value(cfg, 'global.retries', default=5)

from pip._internal.configuration import Configuration

def key_exists(cfg: Configuration, key: str) -> bool:
    cfg.load()
    try:
        cfg.get_value(key)
        return True
    except Exception:
        return False

from pip._internal.exceptions import ConfigurationError
try:
    value = cfg.get_value('global.retries')
except ConfigurationError as e:
    if 'No such key' in str(e):
        value = None  # treat as missing
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Configuration.get_value('global.nonexistent') (or via 'pip config get global.nonexistent') when that key is absent from all loaded config variants. The KeyError at line 153 is caught and re-raised as this ConfigurationError.

Common situations: Querying a config key that was never set; typo in the key name; querying before Configuration.load() was called; expecting a default that pip does not actually store in config.

Related errors

• Key does not contain dot separated section and key. Perhaps
• Got invalid value for load_only - should be one of {}
• Fatal Internal error [id=1]. Please report as a bug.
• An error occurred while writing to the configuration file {f
• Needed a specific file to be modifying.

AI-assisted analysis of pypa/pip@d7d0d0a394 (2026-08-04). Data as JSON: /data/errors/bb103c0abff14508.json. Report an issue: GitHub.