Add S3 transcript download and OPENAI_API_KEY validation for Lenny's Podcast example

[Copilot]

The Lenny's Podcast example required manual transcript setup and failed silently when OPENAI_API_KEY was missing. Neo4j driver warnings cluttered the import output.

Changes

S3 transcript download

• scripts/download_transcripts.py: Downloads and validates archive from S3
• Makefile: Auto-downloads on first make load-* command, manual make download-transcripts target
• Validates 250+ transcript files extracted, progress indication, --check-only and --force modes

OPENAI_API_KEY validation

• backend/src/config.py: Pydantic validator fails fast at startup with actionable error
• scripts/load_transcripts.py: Pre-flight check before processing
• Rejects empty/placeholder values, validates sk-* format

@field_validator("openai_api_key")
@classmethod
def validate_openai_api_key(cls, v: SecretStr) -> SecretStr:
    if not v or not v.get_secret_value() or v.get_secret_value().strip() == "":
        error_msg = (
            "\n\n" "=" * 70 + "\n"
            "ERROR: OPENAI_API_KEY is required but not set\n"
            # ... actionable instructions ...
        )
        raise ValueError("OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable is required")
    return v

Neo4j driver warning suppression

• src/neo4j_agent_memory/graph/client.py: Filter deprecation warnings, set neo4j.* loggers to WARNING

Documentation

• README: OpenAI API key marked as required prerequisite with use cases
• .env.example: Detailed API key documentation with setup link
• .gitignore: Exclude data/ and tmp/ directories

Tests

• test_download_transcripts.py: Unit tests for download/validation, integration test for S3 availability
• test_config_validation.py: API key validation edge cases

Warning

Firewall rules blocked me from connecting to one or more addresses (expand for details)

I tried to connect to the following addresses, but was blocked by firewall rules:

• s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com
  • Triggering command: /usr/bin/python python scripts/download_transcripts.py --check-only (dns block)

If you need me to access, download, or install something from one of these locations, you can either:

• Configure Actions setup steps to set up my environment, which run before the firewall is enabled
• Add the appropriate URLs or hosts to the custom allowlist in this repository's Copilot coding agent settings (admins only)

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Lenny Podcast example import</issue_title>
<issue_description>- disable warnigs for the driver

• and document that the OPENAI_API_KEY is required
• probably fail fast when it is not set

But after setting these, it looks really good with the import

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

@johnymontana Podcast transcript files now available here: https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.neo4j.com/lennys_podcast_transcripts_archive.zip

Update the Lenny's podcast example app readme instructions, build scripts, and makefile targets to download and extract the transcript txt files from this url. add tests, including an integration test that verifies the file is available</comment_new>

• Fixes Lenny Podcast example import #7

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
agent-memory	Ready	Preview, Comment	Feb 6, 2026 5:21pm