rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch · error · RuntimeError

refused to start: VERIFY_OVERRIDE_SECRET is unset. Set the e

Error message

refused to start: VERIFY_OVERRIDE_SECRET is unset. Set the env var, or pass VERIFY_DEMO_MODE=1 to run the lesson demo only.

What it means

Error "refused to start: VERIFY_OVERRIDE_SECRET is unset. Set the env var, or pass VERIFY_DEMO_MODE=1 to run the lesson demo only." thrown in rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch.

Source

Thrown at phases/14-agent-engineering/38-verification-gates/code/main.py:47

# Audit secret used to sign override entries. In production read from a secrets
# manager. Fail closed: only fall back to a demo secret when VERIFY_DEMO_MODE=1
# is set explicitly, and shout about it so it cannot land in CI by accident.
_OVERRIDE_SECRET_ENV = "VERIFY_OVERRIDE_SECRET"
_DEMO_MODE_ENV = "VERIFY_DEMO_MODE"


def _load_override_secret() -> str:
    secret = os.environ.get(_OVERRIDE_SECRET_ENV)
    if secret:
        return secret
    if os.environ.get(_DEMO_MODE_ENV) == "1":
        print(
            f"WARNING: {_OVERRIDE_SECRET_ENV} unset and {_DEMO_MODE_ENV}=1; "
            "using insecure demo secret. Do not record real overrides in this mode.",
            file=sys.stderr,
        )
        return "demo-override-secret-do-not-ship"
    raise RuntimeError(
        f"refused to start: {_OVERRIDE_SECRET_ENV} is unset. "
        f"Set the env var, or pass {_DEMO_MODE_ENV}=1 to run the lesson demo only."
    )


@dataclass
class Finding:
    code: str
    severity: str
    detail: str


@dataclass
class Artifacts:
    task_id: str
    acceptance_commands: list[str]
    feedback: list[dict[str, object]]
    scope_report: dict[str, object]

View on GitHub (pinned to 39ea8a1c6d)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at phases/14-agent-engineering/38-verification-gates/code/main.py:47 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch@39ea8a1c6d (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0f2442eb7d0c8f8b. Report an issue: GitHub.