vxcontrol/pentagi · error · Fatal

failed to create http client: %w

Error message

failed to create http client: %w

What it means

The Tavily searcher calls system.GetHTTPClient(t.cfg) to build its outbound HTTP client; failure (invalid proxy URL, bad TLS config) yields a Fatal error with no retry. Identical in nature to the Sploitus client-creation error — it reflects environment/config, not the Tavily API.

Source

Thrown at backend/pkg/tools/searchers/tavily.go:106

			langfuse.WithEventMetadata(langfuse.Metadata{
				"engine":      "tavily",
				"query":       req.Query,
				"max_results": req.MaxResults,
				"error":       err.Error(),
			}),
		)

		obs.LogErrorOrCancel(logger, err, "failed to search in tavily")
		return "", err
	}

	return result, nil
}

func (t *tavily) search(ctx context.Context, query string, maxResults int) (string, error) {
	client, err := system.GetHTTPClient(t.cfg)
	if err != nil {
		return "", Fatal(fmt.Errorf("failed to create http client: %w", err))
	}

	reqPayload := tavilyRequest{
		Query:             query,
		ApiKey:            t.apiKey(),
		Topic:             "general",
		SearchDepth:       "advanced",
		IncludeImages:     false,
		IncludeAnswer:     true,
		IncludeRawContent: true,
		MaxResults:        maxResults,
	}
	reqBody, err := json.Marshal(reqPayload)
	if err != nil {
		return "", Fatal(fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal request body: %v", err))
	}

	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, tavilyURL, bytes.NewBuffer(reqBody))

View on GitHub (pinned to ea665308ba)

Solutions

1. Fix the proxy URL named in the wrapped error (scheme required, e.g. http://host:port)
2. Validate custom CA bundle path/PEM content referenced by the config
3. Test with proxies unset to isolate whether proxy config is the cause

Example fix

// before
HTTPS_PROXY=socks://bad host:1080
// after
HTTPS_PROXY=socks5://proxy.internal:1080

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

When it happens

Trigger: tavily.search() (called from Handle) invokes system.GetHTTPClient(t.cfg) before building the request; fails when cfg has an unparsable proxy or invalid transport/TLS options.

Common situations: Invalid HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY URL in the container environment, nonexistent or malformed CA bundle configured for the proxy, or corrupted config after editing .env/docker-compose.

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/bcdd8e7903ce12be. Report an issue: GitHub.