# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Improve Vertex AI auth error messaging

## Open now

- 1 issue, 1 PR open on GitHub.
- #121295: Vertex AI 401/403 is reported as "rejected your API key" (Vertex uses a service account, not a key)
- PR #121311: fix(agent): clarify Vertex authentication guidance

These issues and PRs address misleading error messages that blame an API key when Vertex AI authentication failures occur, since Vertex uses service accounts rather than API keys.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 1 open issue(s), 0 closed issue(s), 1 open PR(s), 0 merged PR(s), 1 PR(s) closed without merging.
- No fix has been merged to main; one or more PRs were attempted (see below).
- **Recommended:** review the prior/competing PR(s) below. A fix was attempted but not merged; your case may extend or revive that work.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `unresolved`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.
- Pairwise link density `0.67`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Open related issues

- #121295: Vertex AI 401/403 is reported as "rejected your API key" (Vertex uses a service account, not a key)

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#121311: fix(agent): clarify Vertex authentication guidance**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `stale_abandoned`; implication `active`; refs `ba7269032c`
  - files: `agent/turn_failure_copy.py`, `agent/turn_recovery.py`, `tests/agent/test_vertex_auth_failure_guidance.py`
- **#121576: fix(vertex): name the service account on 401 and 403, not an API key**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `stale_abandoned`; implication `active`

## Fix status

- No merged fix on record.
- Subsystem: `agent`