thedotmack/claude-mem · info

API key prompt cancelled — falling back to Claude provider.

Error message

API key prompt cancelled — falling back to Claude provider.

What it means

In the interactive provider flow for a non-Claude provider, cancelling the masked 'Paste your <provider> API key' prompt (Esc/Ctrl-C) hits this branch: the installer warns, persists the Claude provider instead, and returns 'claude'. Note CLAUDE_MEM_PROVIDER was already written as the selected provider just before the prompt, so this branch rewrites it back to claude — deliberate fallback, not data loss.

Source

Thrown at src/npx-cli/commands/install.ts:1268

  const keyEnvName = selectedProvider === 'gemini'
    ? 'CLAUDE_MEM_GEMINI_API_KEY'
    : 'CLAUDE_MEM_OPENROUTER_API_KEY';

  const existingKey = getSetting(keyEnvName as keyof SettingsDefaults) as string | undefined;
  if (existingKey && existingKey.trim().length > 0) {
    const wrote = mergeSettings({ CLAUDE_MEM_PROVIDER: selectedProvider });
    if (wrote) log.info(`Saved provider=${selectedProvider} to ~/.claude-mem/settings.json`);
    return selectedProvider;
  }

  const apiKeyResult = await p.password({
    message: `Paste your ${providerLabel} API key:`,
    mask: '*',
    validate: (v?: string) => (!v || v.trim().length === 0) ? 'API key required' : undefined,
  });

  if (p.isCancel(apiKeyResult)) {
    log.warn(`API key prompt cancelled — falling back to Claude provider.`);
    persistClaudeProvider();
    return 'claude';
  }

  const apiKey = String(apiKeyResult).trim();
  const wrote = mergeSettings({
    CLAUDE_MEM_PROVIDER: selectedProvider,
    [keyEnvName]: apiKey,
  });
  if (wrote) {
    log.info(`Saved provider=${selectedProvider} to ~/.claude-mem/settings.json`);
  }
  return selectedProvider;
}

async function promptClaudeModel(options: InstallOptions): Promise<void> {
  const allowed = new Set([
    'claude-haiku-4-5-20251001',

View on GitHub (pinned to e2d1df569a)

Solutions

1. Nothing to fix if Claude fallback was intended — generation uses the Claude provider.
2. To retry the third-party provider, rerun `npx claude-mem install` and paste the key when prompted.
3. To set it non-interactively: merge CLAUDE_MEM_<PROVIDER>_API_KEY + CLAUDE_MEM_PROVIDER into settings.json or env.

// Pre-set the third-party key so the prompt (and its cancel path) never happens:
// settings.json: { "env": { "CLAUDE_MEM_PROVIDER": "openrouter", "CLAUDE_MEM_OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "sk-or-..." } }

const isCancelled = (r: unknown): r is symbol => p.isCancel(r);
// cancel => provider falls back to 'claude'; verify which provider actually won:

When it happens

Trigger: User cancels the p.password prompt for a third-party provider key after selecting that provider. persistClaudeProvider() then restores claude as the active provider so memory generation still has credentials.

Common situations: User has no third-party key yet; key lives in a vault not accessible; user changes mind mid-flow and wants the default Claude path.

Related errors

• API key prompt cancelled — leaving existing configuration un
• Gateway setup cancelled — leaving existing configuration unt
• Provider=${options.provider} requested non-interactively. AP
• bun install failed in ${targetDir} ${describeExecError(err)}
• auth_invalid

AI-assisted analysis of thedotmack/claude-mem@e2d1df569a (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/695e246792e32c6e. Report an issue: GitHub.