ruvnet/ruflo · error

Model is required for ${this.name} provider

Error message

Model is required for ${this.name} provider

What it means

BaseProvider.initialize() runs validateConfig() before any network call; if the provider config has no `model`, this error is thrown at startup. The model selects which LLM every request uses (e.g. 'gpt-4o', 'claude-sonnet-4'), so it is mandatory for all providers.

Source

Thrown at v3/@claude-flow/providers/src/base-provider.ts:194

    if (this.config.enableCaching) {
      this.startHealthChecks();
    }

    // Initial health check
    await this.healthCheck();
  }

  /**
   * Provider-specific initialization (override in subclass)
   */
  protected abstract doInitialize(): Promise<void>;

  /**
   * Validate provider configuration
   */
  protected validateConfig(): void {
    if (!this.config.model) {
      throw new Error(`Model is required for ${this.name} provider`);
    }

    if (!this.validateModel(this.config.model)) {
      this.logger.warn(`Model ${this.config.model} may not be supported by ${this.name}`);
    }

    if (this.config.temperature !== undefined) {
      if (this.config.temperature < 0 || this.config.temperature > 2) {
        throw new Error('Temperature must be between 0 and 2');
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Complete a request
   */
  async complete(request: LLMRequest): Promise<LLMResponse> {
    const startTime = Date.now();

View on GitHub (pinned to fa13ee4ad6)

Solutions

1. Add `model` to the provider config: config: { apiKey, model: 'gpt-4o' }
2. If the model comes from an env var, verify it is actually exported in the shell/.env the process loads (printenv | grep MODEL)
3. Default it early - model: process.env.OPENAI_MODEL ?? 'gpt-4o-mini' - so a missing env var can never reach the provider
4. Type your config as the package's LLMProviderConfig so TypeScript flags the missing field before runtime

Example fix

// before
const provider = new OpenAIProvider({
  name: 'openai',
  config: { apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY }, // no model -> throws at initialize()
});
await provider.initialize();

// after
const provider = new OpenAIProvider({
  name: 'openai',
  config: {
    apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
    model: process.env.OPENAI_MODEL ?? 'gpt-4o',
  },
});
await provider.initialize();

function assertValidProviderConfig(config: LLMProviderConfig): void {
  if (!config.model || typeof config.model !== 'string') {
    throw new Error(`Missing required config.model for provider '${config.provider}'`);
  }
}

interface ConfigWithModel extends LLMProviderConfig { model: string }
function hasModel(cfg: LLMProviderConfig): cfg is ConfigWithModel {
  return typeof cfg.model === 'string' && cfg.model.length > 0;
}

try {
  await provider.initialize();
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.startsWith('Model is required')) {
    // config bug: surface immediately, do not retry
    throw new ConfigError('provider config missing model', { cause: e });
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Constructing and initializing any provider with a config whose `model` is missing, undefined or empty - e.g. new OpenAIProvider({ name: 'openai', config: { apiKey } }) with no model, or model read from an unset env var.

Common situations: Model sourced from an unset OPENAI_MODEL / ANTHROPIC_MODEL env var; using `modelId` or `modelName` instead of `model`; a config merge/spread that overwrites model with undefined; scaffolding copied from an example that omitted the field.

Related errors

• Unknown provider: ${config.provider}
• localCompute: no adapter for graphId=${input.graphId}
• RuvllmConfig.modelsDir is required
• dimension is required when creating a new memory file
• Key exceeds maximum nesting depth of ${MAX_NESTING_DEPTH}

AI-assisted analysis of ruvnet/ruflo@fa13ee4ad6 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f61303b1ecbd6a22. Report an issue: GitHub.