xtekky/gpt4free · error · MissingAuthError

Response {response.status_code}: Invalid API key

Error message

Response {response.status_code}: Invalid API key

What it means

Sync variant: HTTP 400 with 'API key not valid' in the body raises MissingAuthError('Invalid API key'). Google-style APIs report bad keys as 400, and g4f normalizes that to an auth error for easier catching.

Source

Thrown at g4f/requests/raise_for_status.py:118

        ) or response.text.startswith("<!DOCTYPE")
        message = response.text
    if message is None or is_html:
        if response.status_code == 520:
            message = "Unknown error (Cloudflare)"
    if response.status_code in (429, 402):
        raise RateLimitError(f"Response {response.status_code}: {message}")
    if response.status_code == 401:
        raise MissingAuthError(f"Response {response.status_code}: {message}")
    if response.status_code == 403 and is_cloudflare(response.text):
        raise CloudflareError(f"Response {response.status_code}: Cloudflare detected")
    elif response.status_code == 403 and is_openai(response.text):
        raise MissingAuthError(f"Response {response.status_code}: OpenAI Bot detected")
    elif response.status_code == 502:
        raise ResponseStatusError(f"Response {response.status_code}: Bad Gateway")
    elif response.status_code == 504:
        raise RateLimitError(f"Response {response.status_code}: Gateway Timeout ")
    elif response.status_code == 400 and "API key not valid" in message:
        raise MissingAuthError(f"Response {response.status_code}: Invalid API key")
    else:
        raise ResponseStatusError(
            f"Response {response.status_code}: {'HTML content' if is_html else message}"
        )

View on GitHub (pinned to 973504e177)

Solutions

1. Regenerate and correctly configure the provider API key.
2. Verify key/vendor match.
3. Test the key with a direct provider API call.
4. Review key restrictions in the provider console.

import re, os
def gemini_key_ok() -> bool:
    k = os.environ.get('GEMINI_API_KEY', '')
    return bool(re.fullmatch(r'[A-Za-z0-9_\-]{30,}', k))

assert gemini_key_ok()

from g4f.errors import MissingAuthError
def is_invalid_key(err: BaseException) -> bool:
    return isinstance(err, MissingAuthError) and 'Invalid API key' in str(err)

from g4f.errors import MissingAuthError
try:
    resp = g4f.ChatCompletion.create(model, messages)
except MissingAuthError as e:
    if 'Invalid API key' in str(e):
        raise SystemExit('Regenerate the provider key and re-run')
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Synchronous g4f calls to Gemini/Google-style providers with a malformed or revoked key that the API rejects at 400.

Common situations: Typo'd or truncated key; key deleted in AI Studio; wrong vendor's key; key restricted from the requested model.

Understand the failure class

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

• Response {response.status}: Invalid API key
• Failed to obtain Turnstile token for DeepInfra request.
• Add a "api_key"
• Missing "api_key"
• API key is required.

AI-assisted analysis of xtekky/gpt4free@973504e177 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e395e5c02f2cb177. Report an issue: GitHub.