URGENT: create_nil_db_user_client fails due to server/SDK incompatibility - missing required fields

[codingtogetherforever]

Problem

When attempting to initialize NilDbUserClient using create_nil_db_user_client, getting validation errors due to missing required fields in the server response:

pydantic_core._pydantic_core.ValidationError: 2 validation errors for ReadAboutNodeResponse
public_key
  Field required [type=missing, input_value={'started': '2025-06-12T0...b-nx8v.nillion.network'}, input_type=dict]
maintenance
  Field required [type=missing, input_value={'started': '2025-06-12T0...b-nx8v.nillion.network'}, input_type=dict]

Code That Triggers the Error

import asyncio
from secretvaults.user import create_nil_db_user_client
from nildb_config import NILDB_NODES

async def create_client():
    clients = []
    for node in NILDB_NODES.values():
        # This line fails with validation error
        client = await create_nil_db_user_client(node['url'])
        clients.append(client)
    return clients

asyncio.run(create_client())

Root Cause

The create_nil_db_user_client function calls the /about endpoint and expects the response to validate against ReadAboutNodeResponse, but the server response is missing required fields:

• public_key
• maintenance

The server response only contains:

{
  "started": "2025-06-12T...",
  "build": {...},
  "did": "...",
  "url": "https://nildb-nx8v.nillion.network"
}

But the SDK expects:

{
  "started": "...",
  "build": {...}, 
  "did": "...",
  "url": "...",
  "public_key": "...",  // Missing
  "maintenance": "..."  // Missing
}

Expected Solution

1. Option 1: Update the server to include the missing fields in the /about endpoint response
2. Option 2: Update the SDK to make these fields optional in ReadAboutNodeResponse
3. Option 3: Provide alternative initialization method that doesn't require the /about endpoint

Environment

• Python 3.12
• secretvaults SDK (latest)
• Ubuntu
• Node URL: https://nildb-nx8v.nillion.network
• User: codingtogetherforever
• Date: 2025-07-24 18:29:05 UTC

Impact

This prevents users from being able to initialize nilDB clients using the documented approach with create_nil_db_user_client.