Cannot use LM Studio despite OpenAI API compatibility – requires OPENAI_API_KEY

[jx-it]

I'm trying to use LM Studio as an OpenAI-compatible backend, but the application still requires an API key for OpenAI, even though I'm setting the OPENAI_BASE_URL to the LM Studio URL.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Set environment variables as follows:
   OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1234/v1

2. Run the application without setting OPENAI_API_KEY (since LM Studio doesn’t require one).

Expected behavior:
The app should connect to LM Studio successfully without needing an OpenAI API key.

Actual behavior:
The application immediately fails with the following error message in the log:
level=fatal msg="Please set the OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable for OpenAI provider."

Additional context:
Even when providing a dummy API key, the same error occurs.
It seems the application enforces OPENAI_API_KEY presence regardless of the base URL or provider.

[PedroCabral04]

I am using lm studio right now, you just need to add the variable like this:

OPENAI_API_KEY: "lmstudio"

I am not sure if the key 'lmstudio' is actually the real one you need, or if you just need to set a random one, it works anyways

This is what i am using:

      # Option 1: Standard OpenAI
      LLM_PROVIDER: "openai"
      LLM_MODEL: "qwen/qwen3-vl-4b"
      OPENAI_API_KEY: "lmstudio"
      OPENAI_BASE_URL: "http://x.x.x.x/v1"

      OCR_PROVIDER: "llm"
      VISION_LLM_PROVIDER: "openai"
      VISION_LLM_MODEL: "qwen/qwen3-vl-4b"
      # OPENAI_BASE_URL: "http://x.x.x.x/v1"
      # OPENAI_API_KEY: "lmstudio"

[jx-it]

Thank you. It was my fault. It's working!