Troubleshooting¶
Fixes for the problems you are most likely to hit with Open Interpreter. Each entry gives the symptom, the usual cause, and what to do.
"refusing auto-run (-y/--auto_run)"¶
Cause: the interpreter command keeps confirmation on by default and
refuses the auto-run flags.
Fix: run without -y and approve each code block. If you really want
auto-run for one session, see
Allow auto-run for one session.
The first-boot service failed after a reboot¶
Cause: the profile contains an api_key: line. The first-boot service
checks the profiles on every boot and fails with
firstboot found a live API key assignment. The walkthrough refuses to run
for the same reason.
Fix: remove the api_key: line from
~/.config/open-interpreter/profiles/default.yaml and set the key as an
environment variable instead. Then restart the service:
sudo systemctl restart sushi-open-interpreter-firstboot
systemctl status sushi-open-interpreter-firstboot --no-pager
The walkthrough says "Run this demo as ubuntu"¶
Cause: you ran demo.sh as root or as another user.
Fix: run it through sudo -iu ubuntu:
Open Interpreter cannot reach the model¶
Cause: no provider key is exported in your shell, the model name does not match your provider, or outbound HTTPS is blocked.
Fix: check the llm.model value in the profile, export the matching
provider key in the same shell (see
Choose a model), and allow outbound TCP 443
from the instance. No inbound rule is needed.
PermissionError when interpreter starts¶
Cause: a cache or config directory in /home/ubuntu is owned by another
user, for example after you ran interpreter with sudo.
Fix: run interpreter as ubuntu, not with sudo. Check ownership of
the directories it uses and give them back to ubuntu:
ls -ld ~/.cache ~/.cache/open-interpreter ~/.config/open-interpreter
sudo chown -R ubuntu:ubuntu ~/.cache/open-interpreter ~/.config/open-interpreter
If that does not help, email info@softwaresushi.com with the error. Do not include any keys.
Last updated October 13, 2026 · Suggest an improvement