xtekky/gpt4free · error · MissingAuthError

Add a "api_key"

Error message

Add a "api_key"

What it means

MissingAuthError raised by g4f/Provider/needs_auth/Cohere.py at the top of create_async_generator: api_key is None and no fallback exists, because Cohere's API requires a Bearer token on every request (see get_headers, which only adds Authorization when api_key is not None). The provider fails fast before opening the StreamSession.

Source

Thrown at g4f/Provider/needs_auth/Cohere.py:72

    async def create_async_generator(
        cls,
        model: str,
        messages: Messages,
        proxy: str = None,
        timeout: int = 120,
        api_key: str = None,
        temperature: float = None,
        max_tokens: int = None,
        top_k: int = None,
        top_p: float = None,
        stop: list[str] = None,
        stream: bool = True,
        headers: dict = None,
        impersonate: str = None,
        **kwargs,
    ) -> AsyncResult:
        if api_key is None:
            raise MissingAuthError('Add a "api_key"')

        async with StreamSession(
            proxy=proxy,
            headers=cls.get_headers(stream, api_key, headers),
            timeout=timeout,
            impersonate=impersonate,
        ) as session:
            data = filter_none(
                messages=messages,
                model=cls.get_model(model, api_key=api_key),
                temperature=temperature,
                max_tokens=max_tokens,
                k=top_k,
                p=top_p,
                stop_sequences=stop,
                stream=stream,
            )
            async with session.post(cls.api_endpoint, json=data) as response:

View on GitHub (pinned to 973504e177)

Solutions

1. Get a free API key from dashboard.cohere.com and pass api_key="..." to the call.
2. Or register the key in g4f's provider settings so g4f injects it automatically.
3. Confirm you are not hitting a subclass of Cohere that expects a different auth mechanism.

Example fix

# before
resp = await client.chat.completions.create(model="command-r", provider=Cohere, messages=msgs)
# MissingAuthError: Add a "api_key"

# after
resp = await client.chat.completions.create(model="command-r", provider=Cohere, messages=msgs, api_key=os.environ["COHERE_API_KEY"])

import os

def cohere_key_available():
    return bool(os.environ.get("COHERE_API_KEY"))

if not cohere_key_available():
    raise SystemExit("Set COHERE_API_KEY before using the Cohere provider")

try:
    resp = await client.chat.completions.create(model=m, provider=Cohere, messages=msgs, api_key=key)
except MissingAuthError:
    key = os.environ.get("COHERE_API_KEY")
    if not key:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Cohere (or a subclass) through g4f without an api_key argument and without an api_key configured in g4f's settings for the provider. The very first check in create_async_generator raises.

Common situations: New g4f setup where the Cohere key was never added via g4f's settings/CLI; forgetting to pass api_key when invoking the provider directly; key stored under a different provider name.

Related errors

• No Yupp accounts configured. Set YUPP_API_KEY environment va
• Cannot validate GLM account (status {response.status})
• API key has failed too many times.
• Add a "api_key"
• API key is required for {cls.__name__}

AI-assisted analysis of xtekky/gpt4free@973504e177 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ba5d5760a0ffee18. Report an issue: GitHub.