tinyhumansai/openhuman · error · Error

OPENAI_API_KEY is required unless --no-ai or --dry-run is us

Error message

OPENAI_API_KEY is required unless --no-ai or --dry-run is used

What it means

summarizeWithOpenAi() needs an API key for the OpenAI Responses API. getOpenAiKey() checks OPENAI_API_KEY and the legacy OPENAI_API fallback and returned null, and neither --no-ai (deterministic Markdown rendering) nor --dry-run (print the request JSON instead of calling OpenAI) was passed — so the default AI path refuses to continue.

Source

Thrown at scripts/release/generate-release-notes.mjs:473

  if (typeof responseJson.output_text === 'string') {
    return responseJson.output_text;
  }

  const parts = [];
  for (const item of responseJson.output || []) {
    for (const content of item.content || []) {
      if (typeof content.text === 'string') {
        parts.push(content.text);
      }
    }
  }
  return parts.join('\n').trim();
}

async function summarizeWithOpenAi(request) {
  const key = getOpenAiKey();
  if (!key) {
    throw new Error('OPENAI_API_KEY is required unless --no-ai or --dry-run is used');
  }

  const timeoutMs = 300_000;
  const controller = new AbortController();
  const timeout = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), timeoutMs);
  let response;
  try {
    response = await fetch('https://api.openai.com/v1/responses', {
      method: 'POST',
      signal: controller.signal,
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${key}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      },
      body: JSON.stringify(request),
    });
  } catch (error) {
    if (error?.name === 'AbortError') {

View on GitHub (pinned to a221052e0d)

Solutions

1. Export the key: export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... (or wire secrets.OPENAI_API_KEY into the CI job env)
2. Skip AI entirely: pass --no-ai to use renderDeterministicNotes()
3. Inspect the payload without a key: pass --dry-run to print the OpenAI request JSON

Example fix

# before
node scripts/release/generate-release-notes.mjs --from v1.2.3   # Error: OPENAI_API_KEY is required...

# after — option A (provide key)
OPENAI_API_KEY="$CI_OPENAI_KEY" node scripts/release/generate-release-notes.mjs --from v1.2.3
# after — option B (no AI dependency)
node scripts/release/generate-release-notes.mjs --from v1.2.3 --no-ai

if [ -z "${OPENAI_API_KEY:-}" ] && [ -z "${OPENAI_API:-}" ]; then
  echo 'no OpenAI key — falling back to --no-ai' >&2
  set -- "$@" --no-ai
fi
node scripts/release/generate-release-notes.mjs "$@"

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking generate-release-notes.mjs with no key in the environment and neither escape hatch flag; note the key can also come from OPENAI_API (legacy) — both being absent triggers it.

Common situations: Local shell where the env var was never exported; CI job whose secrets block does not map OPENAI_API_KEY to env; expecting the script to read a .env file (it does not — it reads process.env only).

Related errors

• Could not resolve latest GitHub Release tag for ${repo}
• OpenAI Responses API timed out after ${timeoutMs}ms
• OpenAI response did not contain output text
• Sentry is not initialized in this binary — no DSN is resolva
• failed to load dotenv from OPENHUMAN_DOTENV_PATH={path}: {e}

AI-assisted analysis of tinyhumansai/openhuman@a221052e0d (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/49ea0f1e46c5db49. Report an issue: GitHub.