xtekky/gpt4free · error · ValueError

Invalid AZURE_API_KEYS environment variable

Error message

Invalid AZURE_API_KEYS environment variable

What it means

The AZURE_API_KEYS environment variable must be a JSON object mapping model names (or 'default') to API keys. This ValueError is raised inside get_models() when json.loads() on the variable throws JSONDecodeError — the value is present but is not valid JSON (e.g. a bare key string, single quotes, trailing commas).

Source

Thrown at g4f/Provider/needs_auth/Azure.py:43

    image_models = ["flux-1.1-pro", "flux.1-kontext-pro"]
    model_aliases = {"flux-kontext": "flux.1-kontext-pro"}
    model_extra_body = {
        "gpt-4o-mini-audio-preview": {
            "audio": {"voice": "alloy", "format": "mp3"},
            "modalities": ["text", "audio"],
        }
    }
    api_keys: dict[str, str] = {}
    failed: dict[str, int] = {}

    @classmethod
    def get_models(cls, api_key: str = None, **kwargs) -> list[str]:
        api_keys = os.environ.get("AZURE_API_KEYS")
        if api_keys:
            try:
                cls.api_keys = json.loads(api_keys)
            except json.JSONDecodeError:
                raise ValueError(f"Invalid AZURE_API_KEYS environment variable")
        routes = os.environ.get("AZURE_ROUTES")
        if routes:
            try:
                routes = json.loads(routes)
            except json.JSONDecodeError:
                raise ValueError(
                    f"Invalid AZURE_ROUTES environment variable format: {routes}"
                )
            cls.routes = routes
        if cls.routes:
            if cls.live == 0 and cls.api_keys:
                cls.live += 1
            return list(cls.routes.keys())
        return super().get_models(api_key=api_key, **kwargs)

    @classmethod
    async def create_async_generator(
        cls,

View on GitHub (pinned to 973504e177)

Solutions

1. Set the variable as strict JSON with double quotes: AZURE_API_KEYS='{"default": "sk-...", "gpt-4o": "sk-..."}'.
2. Validate the value with a JSON linter or python -m json.tool before exporting.
3. In docker/compose, ensure the env value is not double-escaped or wrapped in extra layers of quotes.

Example fix

# before
export AZURE_API_KEYS=my-api-key

# after
export AZURE_API_KEYS='{"default": "my-api-key", "gpt-4o": "another-key"}'

import json, os

def validate_azure_api_keys() -> dict:
    raw = os.environ.get("AZURE_API_KEYS")
    if not raw:
        return {}
    parsed = json.loads(raw)  # raises here with a clear traceback at startup
    assert isinstance(parsed, dict) and all(isinstance(v, str) for v in parsed.values()), \
        "AZURE_API_KEYS must be a JSON object of model -> key strings"
    return parsed

validate_azure_api_keys()  # call at app startup

def is_valid_api_keys_env(raw: str | None) -> bool:
    """True when AZURE_API_KEYS is absent or a JSON object of string keys."""
    if not raw:
        return True
    try:
        parsed = json.loads(raw)
    except json.JSONDecodeError:
        return False
    return isinstance(parsed, dict) and all(isinstance(v, str) for v in parsed.values())

try:
    models = Azure.get_models()
except ValueError as e:
    if "AZURE_API_KEYS" in str(e):
        # fix env to strict JSON, restart — no point retrying unchanged
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Setting AZURE_API_KEYS='my-key-123' or \"{'gpt-4o': 'key'}\" (single quotes) and then calling get_models()/create_async_generator, which triggers cls.get_models(). Any syntax JSON.parse would reject raises immediately.

Common situations: Users paste a raw key instead of a JSON dict; shell quoting mangles double quotes; copy from YAML config preserving single quotes; trailing commas from hand editing.

Related errors

• Invalid AZURE_ROUTES environment variable format: {routes}
• API key is required for Azure provider. Ask for API key in t
• No API endpoint found for model: {model}
• runtime.json: no platforms defined
• WebSocket error inside Cloudflare session

AI-assisted analysis of xtekky/gpt4free@973504e177 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7e05185495fdecc9. Report an issue: GitHub.