# Persistent litellm.BadRequestError with ChatGoogleGenerativeAI (Gemini) in Colab

**URL:** <https://community.crewai.com/t/persistent-litellm-badrequesterror-with-chatgooglegenerativeai-gemini-in-colab/7062>\
**Category:** CrewAI Community Support\
**Tags:** tools\_issues\
**Created:** [September 25, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://community.crewai.com/t/persistent-litellm-badrequesterror-with-chatgooglegenerativeai-gemini-in-colab/7062 "2025-09-25T13:04:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Steve\_Gustafson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.crewai.com/steve_gustafson/32/4445_2.png) [@Steve\_Gustafson](https://community.crewai.com/u/Steve_Gustafson)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://community.crewai.com/t/persistent-litellm-badrequesterror-with-chatgooglegenerativeai-gemini-in-colab/7062/1 "2025-09-25T13:04:36Z")

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```auto
Hello CrewAI Community,

I'm encountering a persistent `litellm.BadRequestError: LLM Provider NOT provided` when trying to use `ChatGoogleGenerativeAI` with a Gemini model (`gemini-1.5-flash`) within my CrewAI project running in Google Colab.

This error occurs during the `strategy_crew.kickoff()` call, specifically when the first agent tries to interact with the LLM. The full error message is:

```

litellm.BadRequestError: LLM Provider NOT provided. Pass in the LLM provider you are trying to call. You passed model=models/gemini/gemini-1.5-flash Pass model as E.g. For ‘Huggingface’ inference endpoints pass in `completion(model='huggingface/starcoder',..)` Learn more: [redacted link]

````auto
(Note: The `models/gemini/gemini-1.5-flash` part in the error might vary based on my last attempt, sometimes showing just `gemini-1.5-flash` or `gemini/gemini-1.5-flash`).

**Environment Details:**

* **Platform:** Google Colab
* **Python Version:** 3.12.11
* **Installed Library Versions:**
    * `crewai-tools`: 0.73.1
    * `crewai`: 0.193.2
    * `langchain-google-genai`: 2.1.12
    * (Other installed libraries as per the `!pip install` command)

**LLM Setup:**

I am initializing the LLM using `langchain_google_genai.ChatGoogleGenerativeAI`:

```python
from langchain_google_genai import ChatGoogleGenerativeAI
import os

GOOGLE_API_KEY = os.getenv("GOOGLE_API_KEY") # API key is set as environment variable
llm = ChatGoogleGenerativeAI(model="gemini-1.5-flash", # Also tried "gemini/gemini-1.5-flash"
                             verbose=True,
                             temperature=0.5,
                             google_api_key=GOOGLE_API_KEY) # Explicitly passing API key

````

The `GOOGLE_API_KEY` environment variable is confirmed to be set correctly.

**Steps Taken to Troubleshoot this LLM Error:**

1. Ensured `GOOGLE_API_KEY` is set as an environment variable and explicitly passed to `ChatGoogleGenerativeAI`.

2. Tried different model name formats for the `model` parameter in `ChatGoogleGenerativeAI`, including `"gemini-1.5-flash"`and `"gemini/gemini-1.5-flash"`.

3. Restarted the Colab runtime multiple times and re-executed all setup cells sequentially.

**Previous Context (if relevant):**

Prior to this LLM error, I was facing persistent `ImportError` / `ModuleNotFoundError` issues with `crewai_tools.BaseTool`, even after trying different import paths (`from crewai_tools import BaseTool`, `from crewai_tools.agents import BaseTool`, `from crewai.tools import BaseTool`) and recreating tool files. While those import errors seem to have subsided, this LLM configuration error is now preventing the crew from running.

**Request for Help:**

Could anyone provide guidance on how to correctly configure `ChatGoogleGenerativeAI` with `litellm` within CrewAI in a Colab environment to avoid the `LLM Provider NOT provided` error? Is there a specific model name format or configuration step I might be missing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![maxmoura](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.crewai.com/maxmoura/32/4206_2.png) [@maxmoura](https://community.crewai.com/u/maxmoura)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.crewai.com/t/persistent-litellm-badrequesterror-with-chatgooglegenerativeai-gemini-in-colab/7062/2 "2025-09-25T21:54:20Z")

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> [@Steve\_Gustafson](#):
>
> ```python
> from langchain_google_genai import ChatGoogleGenerativeAI
> import os
> 
> GOOGLE_API_KEY = os.getenv("GOOGLE_API_KEY") # API key is set as environment variable
> llm = ChatGoogleGenerativeAI(model="gemini-1.5-flash", # Also tried "gemini/gemini-1.5-flash"
> verbose=True,
> temperature=0.5,
> google_api_key=GOOGLE_API_KEY) # Explicitly passing API key
> 
> ```

```python
from crewai import LLM
import os

os.environ["GEMINI_API_KEY"] = "<YOUR-KEY>"

llm = LLM(
    model="gemini/gemini-flash-latest",
    temperature=0.5
)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/crewai/original/1X/ecda97e72f77c7100e0a761444b1c991925cc789.png) [@system](https://community.crewai.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.crewai.com/t/persistent-litellm-badrequesterror-with-chatgooglegenerativeai-gemini-in-colab/7062/3 "2025-09-26T21:54:28Z")

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Closed on September 26, 2025, 9:54pm UTC

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