[Bug]: `This feature is only available for LiteLLM Enterprise users` error while trying to update a virtual key

[LLukas22]

What happened?

An This feature is only available for LiteLLM Enterprise users error occures even when no enterprice features are used when i try to edit an already created virtual key by e.g. adding a model to the key.

In earlier version of litellm i could add models to keys without any problems even without an enterpice license and according to your website it should still be possible.

I attached a video showcasing this behaviour.

Litellm.Bug.mp4

Relevant log output

2025-10-06 13:54:04 11:54:04 - LiteLLM Proxy:ERROR: key_management_endpoints.py:1233 - litellm.proxy.proxy_server.update_key_fn(): Exception occured - 403: {'error': 'This feature is only available for LiteLLM Enterprise users. You must be a LiteLLM Enterprise user to use this feature. If you have a license please set `LITELLM_LICENSE` in your env. Get a 7 day trial key here: https://www.litellm.ai/enterprise#trial. \nPricing: https://www.litellm.ai/#pricing'}
2025-10-06 13:54:04 Traceback (most recent call last):
2025-10-06 13:54:04   File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/key_management_endpoints.py", line 1189, in update_key_fn
2025-10-06 13:54:04     non_default_values = await prepare_key_update_data(
2025-10-06 13:54:04                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2025-10-06 13:54:04         data=data, existing_key_row=existing_key_row
2025-10-06 13:54:04         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2025-10-06 13:54:04     )
2025-10-06 13:54:04     ^
2025-10-06 13:54:04   File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/key_management_endpoints.py", line 967, in prepare_key_update_data
2025-10-06 13:54:04     _set_object_metadata_field(
2025-10-06 13:54:04     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
2025-10-06 13:54:04         object_data=data,
2025-10-06 13:54:04         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2025-10-06 13:54:04         field_name=field,
2025-10-06 13:54:04         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2025-10-06 13:54:04         value=getattr(data, field),
2025-10-06 13:54:04         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2025-10-06 13:54:04     )
2025-10-06 13:54:04     ^
2025-10-06 13:54:04   File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/common_utils.py", line 46, in _set_object_metadata_field
2025-10-06 13:54:04     _premium_user_check()
2025-10-06 13:54:04     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
2025-10-06 13:54:04   File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/litellm/proxy/utils.py", line 3581, in _premium_user_check
2025-10-06 13:54:04     raise HTTPException(
2025-10-06 13:54:04     ...<4 lines>...
2025-10-06 13:54:04     )
2025-10-06 13:54:04 fastapi.exceptions.HTTPException: 403: {'error': 'This feature is only available for LiteLLM Enterprise users. You must be a LiteLLM Enterprise user to use this feature. If you have a license please set `LITELLM_LICENSE` in your env. Get a 7 day trial key here: https://www.litellm.ai/enterprise#trial. \nPricing: https://www.litellm.ai/#pricing'}

Are you a ML Ops Team?

Yes

What LiteLLM version are you on ?

v1.77.5

Twitter / LinkedIn details

No response

[uc4w6c]

This issue was fixed in #15184.
Please try it with v1.77.7.

[icsy7867]

Same issue with v1.77.7 nightly.

I am just trying to remove a model from a specific key.

{'error': 'This feature is only available for LiteLLM Enterprise users: guardrails. You must be a LiteLLM Enterprise user to use this feature. If you have a license please set `LITELLM_LICENSE` in your env. Get a 7 day trial key here: https://www.litellm.ai/enterprise#trial. \nPricing: https://www.litellm.ai/#pricing'}

And logs from the container:

21:05:57 - LiteLLM Proxy:ERROR: key_management_endpoints.py:1462 - litellm.proxy.proxy_server.update_key_fn(): Exception occured - 403: {'error': 'This feature is only available for LiteLLM Enterprise users: guardrails. You must be a LiteLLM Enterprise user to use this feature. If you have a license please set `LITELLM_LICENSE` in your env. Get a 7 day trial key here: https://www.litellm.ai/enterprise#trial. \nPricing: https://www.litellm.ai/#pricing'}
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/key_management_endpoints.py", line 1418, in update_key_fn
    non_default_values = await prepare_key_update_data(
                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
INFO:     10.42.173.240:54324 - "POST /key/update HTTP/1.1" 403 Forbidden
        data=data, existing_key_row=existing_key_row
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/key_management_endpoints.py", line 1163, in prepare_key_update_data
    _set_object_metadata_field(
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        object_data=data,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        field_name=field,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        value=getattr(data, field),
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/common_utils.py", line 46, in _set_object_metadata_field
    _premium_user_check(field_name)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/litellm/proxy/utils.py", line 3590, in _premium_user_check
    raise HTTPException(
    ...<2 lines>...
    )

[uc4w6c]

@icsy7867
If you’re running it locally, please try running npm run dev and check it on http://localhost:3000.

[icsy7867]

@icsy7867 If you’re running it locally, please try running npm run dev and check it on http://localhost:3000.

I am riunning the rootless container in kubernetes, so I dont think that applies.

[uc4w6c]

@icsy7867
From the logs, it looks like the backend is running fine — maybe it’s a browser cache issue?
Could you try clearing your browser cache once?

[LLukas22]

I just pulled the last nightly build: main-v1.77.7-nightly

The bug still happens when i want to update anything in a virtual key.

Makes litellm preaty much unusable, since i cant assign models to virtual keys i have already enrolled in projects.

[LLukas22]

The problem seams to be caused by guardrails being set to an empty list from prior versions of litellm, e.g. when i want to save my virtual key the following payload is send to the backend:

{
	"auto_rotate": false,
	"budget_duration": null,
	"disabled_callbacks": [],
	"guardrails": [],
	"key": "64a243ff899b4b244e78cd3334cfcec29f956d15e88c5ad6bdf5c82327eccd86",
	"key_alias": "Continue",
	"max_budget": 100,
	"max_parallel_requests": null,
	"metadata": {
		"logging": []
	},
	"models": [
		"snowflake-arctic-embed-l-v2.0",
		"gpt-4.1",
		"gpt-4.1-mini",
		"qwen-3",
		"gpt-5",
		"gpt-5-mini",
		"qwen3-next-80b-a3b-thinking",
		"qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
		"gpt-oss-120b"
	],
	"object_permission": {
		"mcp_access_groups": [],
		"mcp_servers": [],
		"object_permission_id": "be5f395e-ff57-4d0c-b7c3-8726a46613aa",
		"vector_stores": []
	},
	"prompts": [],
	"rotation_interval": null,
	"rpm_limit": null,
	"team_id": "a9823afa-3847-4d05-8f88-031a226ebaf4",
	"token": "64a243ff899b4b244e78cd3334cfcec29f956d15e88c5ad6bdf5c82327eccd86",
	"tpm_limit": null
}

I did never configure any guardrails or used any premium features.

Looking at your backend code:

def prepare_metadata_fields(
    data: BaseModel, non_default_values: dict, existing_metadata: dict
) -> dict:
    """
    Check LiteLLM_ManagementEndpoint_MetadataFields (proxy/_types.py) for fields that are allowed to be updated
    """
    if "metadata" not in non_default_values:  # allow user to set metadata to none
        non_default_values["metadata"] = existing_metadata.copy()

    casted_metadata = cast(dict, non_default_values["metadata"])

    data_json = data.model_dump(exclude_unset=True, exclude_none=True)

    try:
        for k, v in data_json.items():
            if k in LiteLLM_ManagementEndpoint_MetadataFields:
                if isinstance(v, datetime):
                    casted_metadata[k] = v.isoformat()
                else:
                    casted_metadata[k] = v
            if k in LiteLLM_ManagementEndpoint_MetadataFields_Premium:
                from litellm.proxy.utils import _premium_user_check

                _premium_user_check(k)
                casted_metadata[k] = v

    except Exception as e:
        verbose_proxy_logger.exception(
            "litellm.proxy.proxy_server.prepare_metadata_fields(): Exception occured - {}".format(
                str(e)
            )
        )

    non_default_values["metadata"] = casted_metadata
    return non_default_values

data.model_dump(exclude_unset=True, exclude_none=True) will contain the guardrails key in that case and trigger the enterprice error.

Maybe empty collections like [] should also be handled as unset to handle these cases?

[LLukas22]

Potential fix could be usign a pydantic model serializer, i pushed a small example to #15266

[uc4w6c]

I’ll check it tomorrow, but it might just be that npm build wasn’t run.

[ishaan-jaff]

fixed on 1.77.7