vxcontrol/pentagi · error · Fatal

failed to create http client: %w

Error message

failed to create http client: %w

What it means

system.GetHTTPClient(s.cfg) builds the outbound HTTP client from the searcher config (proxy/TLS settings); when construction fails the searcher returns a Fatal error and gives up without retrying. GetHTTPClient typically fails on invalid proxy configuration or bad TLS material.

Source

Thrown at backend/pkg/tools/searchers/sploitus.go:125

// search calls the Sploitus API and returns a formatted markdown result string
func (s *sploitus) search(ctx context.Context, query, exploitType, sort string, limit int) (string, error) {
	reqBody := sploitusRequest{
		Query:  query,
		Type:   exploitType,
		Sort:   sort,
		Title:  false, // search only for titles
		Offset: 0,
	}

	bodyBytes, err := json.Marshal(reqBody)
	if err != nil {
		return "", Fatal(fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal request body: %w", err))
	}

	client, err := system.GetHTTPClient(s.cfg)
	if err != nil {
		return "", Fatal(fmt.Errorf("failed to create http client: %w", err))
	}

	client.Timeout = sploitusRequestTimeout

	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodPost, sploitusAPIURL, bytes.NewReader(bodyBytes))
	if err != nil {
		return "", Fatal(fmt.Errorf("failed to create request: %w", err))
	}

	// Build referer with query to mimic browser behavior
	referer := fmt.Sprintf("https://sploitus.com/?query=%s", url.QueryEscape(query))

	// Mimic Chrome browser headers to bypass Cloudflare protection
	req.Header.Set("Accept", "application/json")
	req.Header.Set("Accept-Language", "en-US,en;q=0.9")
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	req.Header.Set("Origin", "https://sploitus.com")
	req.Header.Set("Referer", referer)

View on GitHub (pinned to ea665308ba)

Solutions

1. Check the wrapped error for 'unknown scheme' or 'proxy' wording and fix the proxy URL in env/config (HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, NO_PROXY)
2. Validate any custom CA bundle path referenced by the config exists and contains valid PEM certificates
3. Unset proxy variables to confirm the error disappears, then re-add them one by one

Example fix

// before
export HTTP_PROXY="proxy.corp.local:8080" // missing scheme
// after
export HTTP_PROXY="http://proxy.corp.local:8080"

if proxy := os.Getenv("HTTPS_PROXY"); proxy != "" {
    if _, err := url.Parse(proxy); err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("invalid HTTPS_PROXY %q: %v", proxy, err)
    }
}

client, err := system.GetHTTPClient(s.cfg)
if err != nil {
    return "", Fatal(fmt.Errorf("failed to create http client: %w", err))
}

When it happens

Trigger: Handle() on the Sploitus searcher calls system.GetHTTPClient(s.cfg) after marshaling the body; it fails when cfg contains an unparsable proxy URL or malformed TLS/transport options.

Common situations: HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY env vars contain an invalid URL (e.g. missing scheme), a custom CA file configured for the container does not exist or is not valid PEM, or proxy credentials are malformed.

Related errors

• failed to create http client: %w
• failed to create http client: %w
• failed to create http client: %w
• failed to create http client: %w
• failed to create http client: %w

AI-assisted analysis of vxcontrol/pentagi@ea665308ba (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b1bad92cab107cf2. Report an issue: GitHub.