rohitg00/agentmemory · error · Error

API key is required (via constructor, OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_K

Error message

API key is required (via constructor, OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY, or OPENAI_API_KEY)

What it means

OpenAIEmbeddingProvider requires an API key and resolves it from the constructor argument, then OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY, then OPENAI_API_KEY. If all three are empty it throws immediately in the constructor so misconfiguration fails fast rather than at first network call.

Source

Thrown at src/providers/embedding/openai.ts:70

  readonly name = "openai";
  readonly dimensions: number;
  private apiKey: string;
  private baseUrl: string;
  private model: string;
  private isAzure: boolean;
  private azureApiVersion: string;

  constructor(apiKey?: string) {
    // Separate API key path: caller-passed wins, then OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY,
    // then fall back to OPENAI_API_KEY. Allows e.g. a placeholder key for
    // local endpoints that ignore Authorization (most do).
    this.apiKey =
      apiKey ||
      getEnvVar("OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY") ||
      getEnvVar("OPENAI_API_KEY") ||
      "";
    if (!this.apiKey) {
      throw new Error(
        "API key is required (via constructor, OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY, or OPENAI_API_KEY)",
      );
    }
    // Embedding-specific base URL override; falls back to OPENAI_BASE_URL,
    // then normalizeBaseUrl's default. The chat-LLM path (src/providers/openai.ts)
    // still reads only OPENAI_BASE_URL, so setting OPENAI_EMBEDDING_BASE_URL
    // alone moves embeddings to the new endpoint without affecting chat.
    this.baseUrl = normalizeBaseUrl(
      getEnvVar("OPENAI_EMBEDDING_BASE_URL") || getEnvVar("OPENAI_BASE_URL"),
    );
    this.model = getEnvVar("OPENAI_EMBEDDING_MODEL") || DEFAULT_MODEL;
    this.dimensions = resolveDimensions(
      this.model,
      getEnvVar("OPENAI_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS"),
      "OPENAI_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS",
    );
    this.isAzure = detectAzure(this.baseUrl);
    this.azureApiVersion =

View on GitHub (pinned to e04ba88819)

Solutions

1. Export OPENAI_API_KEY (or OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY) in your environment, or add it to ~/.agentmemory/.env
2. Pass the key explicitly: new OpenAIEmbeddingProvider(process.env.MY_KEY)
3. Verify the .env file is actually loaded (correct path ~/.agentmemory/.env, correct loader) and the variable name is spelled exactly
4. If using a keyless local gateway, still set a dummy key plus OPENAI_EMBEDDING_BASE_URL pointing at the gateway

Example fix

// before
const provider = new OpenAIEmbeddingProvider(); // no key anywhere
// after
// ~/.agentmemory/.env: OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
const provider = new OpenAIEmbeddingProvider(); // or new OpenAIEmbeddingProvider(process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY)

function requireOpenAiKey(): string {
  const key = process.env.OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY || process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY;
  if (!key) throw new Error('Set OPENAI_API_KEY (or OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY) before creating the provider');
  return key;
}
const provider = new OpenAIEmbeddingProvider(requireOpenAiKey());

const hasApiKey = (k: string | undefined): k is string => typeof k === 'string' && k.trim().length > 0;

let provider: OpenAIEmbeddingProvider;
try {
  provider = new OpenAIEmbeddingProvider();
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.startsWith('API key is required')) {
    console.error('Missing OpenAI credentials: set OPENAI_API_KEY in env or ~/.agentmemory/.env');
    process.exit(1);
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Constructing `new OpenAIEmbeddingProvider()` (or via createEmbeddingProvider/createProvider factory) with no apiKey argument while neither OPENAI_EMBEDDING_API_KEY nor OPENAI_API_KEY is set in the environment or ~/.agentmemory/.env.

Common situations: Docker container launched without passing env vars; .env file located outside the expected ~/.agentmemory/ path; key set only for the chat provider file scope but not exported in the shell; typo like OPENAI_APIKEY; using the npm package in a fresh machine where credentials were never provisioned.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API key is required" / "API key not found" / "No API key was set": the missing-api-key error family across 16 libraries — this error's family across 16 libraries.

Related errors

• COHERE_API_KEY is required
• GEMINI_API_KEY is required
• OPENROUTER_API_KEY is required
• VOYAGE_API_KEY is required
• GEMINI_API_KEY (or GOOGLE_API_KEY) is required for the gemin

AI-assisted analysis of rohitg00/agentmemory@e04ba88819 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/47bfe41ea8c6835b. Report an issue: GitHub.