[REF: GTM_2026-W25_7007] 🐛 401 User Not Found — Expired OpenRouter API Key Causes Silent Failure on Agent Model Response

[YonksTEAM]

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title: "🐛 401 User Not Found — Expired OpenRouter API Key Causes Silent Failure on Agent Model Response"
labels: bug, auth, openrouter, api-key, instance-config
assignees: yonks｜🤖🏛️🪙｜Jason Younker ♾️

🐛 Bug Report: 401 User Not Found

Instance: INT-S004 (s004.ccc.bot)
Agent: MetaAgentClaude (Claude Opus 4.8 — VSA)
Reported: 21 Jun 2026 · 08:52 MDT
Reported by: @YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM)

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❌ Error Message

The agent model failed to respond: 401 User not found.

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🔍 What Happened

@YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM) was attempting to interact with the MetaAgentClaude workspace on INT-S004 (s004.ccc.bot) and received the above 401 error. The agent model (Claude Opus 4.8) failed to respond.

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📋 Environment Details

Field	Value
Instance	INT-S004 (s004.ccc.bot)
Workspace	MetaAgentClaude:INT-S004:vsa-claude
Model	Claude Opus 4.8 (via OpenRouter.ai)
Error Code	401
Error Message	"User not found"
Timeline	Error observed ~08:52 MDT on 21 Jun 2026

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🔎 Root Cause Analysis

Finding	Detail
Root Cause	OpenRouter.ai API key attached to INT-S004 expired on 19 Jun 2026 at 13:54 MDT
Detection	@YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM):ADMIN investigated and confirmed the expiration date
Impact Window	~43 hours (19 Jun 13:54 MDT → 21 Jun 08:52 MDT)
Resolution	@YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM):ADMIN manually rotated the API key and updated instance settings within INT-S004 to restore functionality

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🧪 Steps to Reproduce

1. Navigate to INT-S004 (s004.ccc.bot)
2. Open the MetaAgentClaude:INT-S004:vsa-claude workspace
3. Send any prompt to the agent
4. Observe 401 error: "The agent model failed to respond: 401 User not found."

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✅ Expected Behavior

• Agent should respond normally when API key is valid
• Instance should provide a clear, actionable error message indicating API key expiration rather than a generic "User not found" message

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🚫 Actual Behavior

• Generic 401 User not found — does NOT indicate that the root cause is an expired API key
• No automated alert or warning when the API key approaches expiration
• Silent failure until human (@YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM):ADMIN) investigates manually

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💡 Suggested Improvements

#	Improvement	Priority
1	Clearer error messaging — distinguish between "user not found" and "API key expired" in 401 responses	🔴 P0
2	API key expiry monitoring — admin dashboard or notification when keys are within 7 days of expiration	🔴 P0
3	Graceful degradation — if a model's API key expires, attempt fallback or surface a maintenance message instead of silent 401	🟠 P1
4	API key rotation UI — allow key rotation without full instance reconfiguration	🟠 P1
5	Instance health dashboard — show key validity status per instance (INT-B001, INT-P08, INT-S004)	🟡 P2

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📎 Additional Context

Detail	Value
Instance Restored?	✅ YES — @YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM):ADMIN manually rotated key at ~08:55 MDT
Data Loss?	❌ None
Recurrence Risk	🟠 MEDIUM — no automated expiry monitoring currently exists
Related Instances	INT-B001, INT-P08 — verify their OpenRouter keys are not also approaching expiry

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📋 Correction Log (Per BP-070-DR Anti-Pattern Mintplex-Labs#6)

Previous Claim	Previous CCC-ID	Corrected Finding	Source of Correction
"INT-S004 = WeOwnLLM.StrategyLab.ai"	GTM_2026-W25_7007	INT-S004 = s004.ccc.bot	@YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM)
Instance URL "WeOwnLLM.StrategyLab.ai"	GTM_2026-W25_7007	No URL confirmed — only domain s004.ccc.bot	@YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM)

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🏁 Resolution Notes

• 19 Jun 2026 13:54 MDT — OpenRouter API key for INT-S004 expired
• 21 Jun 2026 08:52 MDT — @YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM) encountered 401 error
• 21 Jun 2026 ~08:55 MDT — @YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM):ADMIN diagnosed, rotated key, restored instance
• 21 Jun 2026 09:19 MDT — #BadAgent correction applied — instance identity corrected, GitHub issue re-drafted

/label ~bug ~auth ~openrouter ~api-key ~instance-config
/assign @yonks｜🤖🏛️🪙｜Jason Younker ♾️
/cc @YonksTEAM (CCC-ID:GTM)

[YonksTEAM]

✅ GH ISSUE #1 — NEW UPDATE COMMENT | [REF: GTM_2026-W26_7043] | ⚒️ THE FORGE | INT‑B001:CCC

🟢 UPDATE — 28 Jun 2026 (W26 D7) · 14:06 MDT

Subject: INT-S004 API Key Expiry Incident — Resolved + Naming Convention Standard

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📋 INCIDENT: S004-API-001 — OpenRouter API Key Expired

Field	Value
Instance	INT-S004 (WeOwnLLM.BurnedOut.xyz)
Agents Affected	Calhoun 🎖️ · DeepPro 🌊 · MiMo 🧪 · VSA-Qwen 🧠 (all VSA agents on INT-S004)
Error	401 User not found — OpenRouter API key expired
Time of Failure	09:08 MDT — 28 Jun 2026
Root Cause	OpenRouter.ai API key reached expiration without prior rotation
Discovered By	@YonksTEAM 🎯 while sending Context Broadcast to MetaCouncil + VSA agents
Time to Resolution	~4 hours (09:08 → 13:27 MDT)
Data Loss	None — broadcast message preserved in INT-B001:CCC context, pending re-send

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🔧 FIX APPLIED

Action	Detail
Key Rotation	✅ Manual rotation by @YonksTEAM:ADMIN
New Key Name	OPENROUTER_API_ANYTHINGLLM_INT-S004_7D_EXP_2026-07-05T1330MDT
Expiration	2026-07-05 13:30 MDT (7-day key)
Instance Settings	✅ Updated in WeOwnLLM INT-S004 configuration
Status	🟢 RESOLVED

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🧠 Lessons Learned / Process Improvement

1. Auditable Key Naming Convention — New format standard adopted:

   {SERVICE}_{PLATFORM}_{INSTANCE}_{DURATION}_EXP_{YYYY-MM-DDTHHMM}TZ
   

   Example: OPENROUTER_API_ANYTHINGLLM_INT-S004_7D_EXP_2026-07-05T1330MDT

2. Proactive Rotation Needed — Keys should be rotated before expiry, not after. A calendar reminder at T-24h is recommended.

3. Error Clarity — The 401 User not found error from OpenRouter was clear enough to identify the issue, but surfacing the expiration reason directly in the error message would reduce investigation time.

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🔄 Pending Action

The Context Broadcast to MetaCouncil + VSA agents on INT-S004 (REF: GTM_2026-W26_7039) needs to be re-sent now that the instance is back online, as agents were never able to receive it during the outage window.

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Status: 🟢 Resolved — Operational incident, no data loss, process improvement codified.
REF: GTM_2026-W26_7042 (Full incident log)
REF: GTM_2026-W26_7043 (THIS GitHub issue UPDATE)
Next Key Expiry: 2026-07-05 13:30 MDT

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