remotion-dev/remotion · error · RemotionInvalidArgumentException

'access_key' must be provided when 'secret_key' is specified

Error message

'access_key' must be provided when 'secret_key' is specified

What it means

Raised (with a deprecation warning) when the caller provides secret_key but no access_key to the Python RemotionClient. Mirror of the access_key-without-secret_key guard, fired by `if secret_key and not access_key`.

Source

Thrown at packages/lambda-python/remotion_lambda/remotionclient.py:194

            raise RemotionInvalidArgumentException(
                "Cannot specify both 'session' and explicit credentials "
                "('access_key'/'secret_key'). Please use only 'session'."
            )

        # Handle deprecated credential parameters
        if access_key is not None or secret_key is not None:
            warnings.warn(
                "Parameters 'access_key' and 'secret_key' are deprecated "
                "as of version 4.0.376 and will be removed in version 5.0.0. "
                "Please migrate to using 'session' for improved security. ",
                DeprecationWarning,
                stacklevel=2,
            )
            # Validate both keys are provided together
            if access_key and not secret_key:
                raise RemotionInvalidArgumentException("'secret_key' must be provided when 'access_key' is specified")
            if secret_key and not access_key:
                raise RemotionInvalidArgumentException("'access_key' must be provided when 'secret_key' is specified")

            # Create session from deprecated credentials
            self.session = Session(
                aws_access_key_id=access_key,
                aws_secret_access_key=secret_key,
                region_name=region,
            )
        elif session:
            # Use provided session
            self.session = session
        else:
            # Create default session (uses credential chain)
            self.session = Session(region_name=region)

        # Store configuration
        self.region = region.strip()
        self.serve_url = serve_url.strip().rstrip('/')
        self.function_name = function_name.strip()

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Provide BOTH access_key and secret_key, or migrate to a boto3 Session (preferred).
2. Confirm both AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY are present in the environment before launch.
3. Use `aws configure list` to verify the active profile has both credentials.

Example fix

// before
client = RemotionClient(
    region=region,
    serve_url=serve_url,
    function_name=fn,
    secret_key=os.environ['AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'],
)

# after
session = boto3.Session(profile_name='remotion')
client = RemotionClient(
    region=region,
    serve_url=serve_url,
    function_name=fn,
    session=session,
)

def validate_paired_credentials(access_key, secret_key):
    if secret_key and not access_key:
        raise ValueError('secret_key provided without access_key')
    return True

def credentials_are_paired(access_key, secret_key) -> bool:\n    return bool(access_key) == bool(secret_key)

try:\n    client = RemotionClient(region=region, serve_url=serve_url, function_name=fn,\n                           access_key=ak, secret_key=sk)\nexcept RemotionInvalidArgumentException as e:\n    raise SystemExit(f'Credentials incomplete: {e}')

When it happens

Trigger: Calling RemotionClient(secret_key='...', access_key=None); passing only the secret half of the credential pair.

Common situations: Env var AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID unset while AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY is set; only the secret was copied from the AWS console; using a partial credential export script.

Related errors

• 'secret_key' must be provided when 'access_key' is specified
• Cannot specify both 'session' and explicit credentials ('acc
• type of startFrom prop must be a number, instead got type ${
• startFrom prop can not be NaN or Infinity.
• startFrom must be greater than equal to 0 instead got ${star

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a257c048ed554309. Report an issue: GitHub.