Flowise 401s: login JWTs are not API keys, and env changes need a restart

TL;DR

Restart the server after any env change, since the new value is not loaded hot. A second cause is editing env and forgetting to restart, the dev server does not pick up new values until restarted.

Steps

1. When Flowise returns 401, check the token shape first: if it starts with eyJhbGc it is a login JWT, not an API key, and will never authenticate. Generate a real key under Settings, API Keys, and copy it into env. Restart the server after any env change, since the new value is not loaded hot. Put your real key in env, never in the example env file that ships with the repo.

When to use

You are seeing this: When Flowise returns 401, check the token shape first: if it starts with eyJhbGc it is a login JWT, not an API key, and will never authenticate. Use this skill when you run into "Flowise 401s: login JWTs are not API keys, and env changes need a restart".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Source: Flowise agentflow examples README documents the 401 causes that waste debugging time. The most common is using the wrong token type: user JWT tokens that start with eyJhbGc are not API keys, and calls with them fail. A second cause is editing env and forgetting to restart, the dev server does not pick up new values until restarted. The fix for an invalid key is regenerating it in Flowise under Settings, API Keys.

Verified resolution: When Flowise returns 401, check the token shape first: if it starts with eyJhbGc it is a login JWT, not an API key, and will never authenticate. Generate a real key under Settings, API Keys, and copy it into env. Restart the server after any env change, since the new value is not loaded hot. Put your real key in env, never in the example env file that ships with the repo.

Source URL: https://github.com/flowiseai/flowise/blob/HEAD/packages/agentflow/examples/README.md