Request faile without a clear message when there is non-ascii char in api key

[A0nameless0man]

App Version

Version: 3.26.1 (7ddf9f6)

API Provider

DeepSeek

Model Used

N/A

Roo Code Task Links (Optional)

No response

🔁 Steps to Reproduce

1. past some thing with non-ascii char as key
2. make any request
3. faile with some thing like "Cannot convert argument to a ByteString because the character at index 7 has a value of 20026 which is greater than 255."

💥 Outcome Summary

expect clear message about wrong key

📄 Relevant Logs or Errors (Optional)

[roomote]

I'm exploring a potential fix for the unclear error message when non-ASCII characters are present in the API key. I'll work on providing a more user-friendly error message for this scenario.

[daniel-lxs]

I took a look at the PR and I think we should expand the scope of this fix. The ByteString conversion error isn't unique to DeepSeek - it can affect any provider that uses the OpenAI client library.

After reviewing the codebase, I found that the following providers all use the OpenAI client and could face the same issue:

• OpenRouter
• LM Studio
• Ollama
• HuggingFace
• Moonshot
• Doubao
• XAI
• Requesty
• Featherless
• Chutes
• And several others

Instead of fixing this in just DeepSeek, we should:

1. Create a shared validation utility (e.g., in src/api/providers/utils/api-key-validation.ts)
2. Apply this validation consistently across all OpenAI-compatible providers
3. Standardize the error messaging

This would provide a more robust solution and better user experience across all providers. We should also clarify whether we want to validate for true ASCII (0-127) or extended ASCII (0-255), as the current PR allows extended ASCII but the error message says "ASCII".

[daniel-lxs]

@roomote-agent tackle this issue again based on my previous comment please