Typo: Duplicate header name in authentication error message

[dajiaohuang]

---

name: Typo bug report
about: Typo in authentication error message (duplicate "Authorization")
title: 'Typo: Duplicate header name in authentication error message'
labels: bug, documentation
assignees: ''

Confirm this is an issue with the Python library and not an underlying OpenAI API

• This is an issue with the Python library

Describe the bug

There is a copy-paste typo in the _validate_headers error message in both the sync and async clients. The message says:

"Authorization or Authorization headers to be explicitly omitted"

But it should mention both supported auth headers: Authorization (Bearer tokens) and api-key (API key auth).

Looking at the X.509 auth code in src/openai/auth/_x509.py:66, the SDK actually checks for api-key, x-api-key, and proxy-authorization headers as well.

Locations

File: src/openai/_client.py

1. Sync client, line 664:

raise TypeError(
    '"Could not resolve authentication method. Expected either api_key or admin_api_key to be set. Or for one of the `Authorization` or `Authorization` headers to be explicitly omitted"'
)

2. Async client, line 1428:

raise TypeError(
    '"Could not resolve authentication method. Expected either api_key or admin_api_key to be set. Or for one of the `Authorization` or `Authorization` headers to be explicitly omitted"'
)

Proposed fix

Change the error message to correctly list the auth headers:

raise TypeError(
    "Could not resolve authentication method. Expected either api_key or admin_api_key to be set. Or for one of the `Authorization` or `api-key` headers to be explicitly omitted"
)

(Also note the original message has extra leading/trailing double quotes inside the string which is also unnecessary.)

To Reproduce

Call any API method without setting credentials and without explicitly omitting auth headers.

Library version

v2.x latest (main branch)

[Pallav-Biyala]

Hi! I'd like to work on this issue. I can fix the duplicated Authorization header in both the sync and async clients and add/update the relevant test coverage.

Could you please assign this issue to me?

[Pallav-Biyala]

Hi! I implemented the fix for this issue in both the synchronous and asynchronous clients, correcting the duplicated Authorization header and removing the unnecessary quotation marks from the error message.

I’m currently unable to open a pull request because the repository appears to restrict PR creation to collaborators.

The changes are available here:
https://github.com/Pallav-Biyala/openai-python/tree/fix-authentication-error-message

If someone with the required permissions could open a PR from this branch, I’d be happy to provide any further changes if needed.

[rubenmarcus]

Confirmed on current main (src/openai/_client.py:665 sync, :1428 async): both copies say `Authorization` or `Authorization`.

The second name is a leftover from the multi-header template. In this client every credential resolves into the single Authorization header (_bearer_auth and _admin_api_key_auth both produce Authorization: Bearer ...), and _validate_headers checks exactly that header, so the message should be singular:

"Could not resolve authentication method. Expected either api_key or admin_api_key to be set. Or for the `Authorization` header to be explicitly omitted"

The two-header variant in src/openai/lib/azure.py:480 (Authorization or api-key) is the legitimate version of that phrasing, since Azure accepts both.

Prepared with AI assistance (GLM via Oh My Pi); reviewed before submission.

[Pallav-Biyala]

Thanks, Ruben, for confirming the issue and clarifying the expected behavior!

I've updated both the synchronous and asynchronous clients in my fork to use the more accurate error message, reflecting that the standard client expects only the Authorization header.

Unfortunately, I still can't open a PR because the repository restricts contributions to collaborators. I've pushed the updated changes to my fork here: https://github.com/Pallav-Biyala/openai-python/tree/fix-authentication-error-message.

Hopefully, this helps someone with the necessary permissions submit the fix.

[rwinkelman]

Typo fix is on the same branch as #3969: fix/retry-sslerror-and-auth-typo (Authorization → api-key in the auth error message).

[dajiaohuang]

I checked the current standard OpenAI and AsyncOpenAI clients: both use the single Authorization header. api-key is an additional header in Azure's separate auth flow, which has distinct wording. The duplicate in this issue should therefore be corrected to Authorization in both standard-client messages.