thedotmack/claude-mem · error

Non-interactive ${providerLabel} configuration is missing a

Error message

Non-interactive ${providerLabel} configuration is missing a personal API key.

What it means

Providers other than 'cmem' and 'claude' (i.e. bring-your-own-key providers) need a personal API key. In non-interactive mode there is no password prompt to collect one, so if the key has not already been provided/staged the install throws this error naming the provider.

Source

Thrown at src/npx-cli/commands/install.ts:1190

  const providerLabel = selectedProvider === 'gemini' ? 'Gemini' : 'OpenRouter';
  const keyEnvName = selectedProvider === 'gemini'
    ? 'CLAUDE_MEM_GEMINI_API_KEY'
    : 'CLAUDE_MEM_OPENROUTER_API_KEY';

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

  if (!isInteractive) {
    throw new Error(`Non-interactive ${providerLabel} configuration is missing a personal API key.`);
  }

  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 updates = selectedProvider === 'openrouter'
    ? buildPersonalOpenRouterSettings(
      apiKey,

View on GitHub (pinned to 8bc631a71a)

Solutions

1. Provide the API key non-interactively (e.g. export the provider's key env var or put it in ~/.claude-mem/settings.json) and rerun install
2. Run the installer in an interactive terminal so it can prompt: 'Paste your <provider> API key:'
3. Switch to a provider that does not need a personal key (e.g. --provider claude) for non-interactive installs

Example fix

// before
npx claude-mem install --provider grok-bot < /dev/null
// after
export GROKBOT_API_KEY=xai-...
npx claude-mem install --provider grok-bot < /dev/null

const needsKey = provider !== 'claude' && provider !== 'cmem';
if (needsKey && !process.stdin.isTTY && !hasStoredApiKey(provider)) {
  throw new Error(`Provide an API key for ${provider} before non-interactive install`);
}

try {
  await runInstall({ provider });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.includes('is missing a personal API key')) {
    console.error(`Set the ${provider} API key in settings/env, or run interactively.`);
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running the installer non-interactively with a BYOK provider selected (options.provider set to e.g. 'openrouter'-style provider) and no API key supplied through settings/env or prior configuration, while isInteractive is false.

Common situations: CI/automation installing claude-mem with a custom provider but forgetting to stage the API key; key removed from ~/.claude-mem/settings.json; rerunning install after clearing credentials.

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

• Provider=${options.provider} requested non-interactively. AP
• API key prompt cancelled — leaving existing configuration un
• missing_api_key
• Skipping local hook API key bootstrap: CLAUDE_MEM_SERVER_DAT
• Non-interactive provider validation did not run.

AI-assisted analysis of thedotmack/claude-mem@8bc631a71a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/39b3e2c588afd89b. Report an issue: GitHub.