mistral-install-auth

Mistral AI Install & Auth

Overview

Set up the official Mistral AI SDK (@mistralai/mistralai for TypeScript, mistralai for Python) and configure authentication for chat completions, embeddings, function calling, vision, and agents.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Python 3.9+
• Package manager (npm, pnpm, yarn, or pip)
• Mistral AI account at console.mistral.ai
• API key from La Plateforme (Settings > API Keys)

Instructions

Step 1: Install SDK

Node.js (TypeScript/JavaScript) — ESM only

set -euo pipefail
# npm
npm install @mistralai/mistralai

# pnpm
pnpm add @mistralai/mistralai

# yarn
yarn add @mistralai/mistralai

Python

set -euo pipefail
pip install mistralai

Step 2: Configure Authentication

Environment Variables (Recommended)

# Set in shell
export MISTRAL_API_KEY="your-api-key"

# Or create .env file (add to .gitignore!)
echo 'MISTRAL_API_KEY=your-api-key' >> .env
echo '.env' >> .gitignore

Using dotenv (Node.js)

set -euo pipefail
npm install dotenv

import 'dotenv/config';

Step 3: Verify Connection

TypeScript

import { Mistral } from '@mistralai/mistralai';

const client = new Mistral({
  apiKey: process.env.MISTRAL_API_KEY,
});

async function testConnection() {
  try {
    const models = await client.models.list();
    console.log('Connection successful! Available models:');
    for (const model of models.data ?? []) {
      console.log(`  - ${model.id}`);
    }
  } catch (error: any) {
    if (error.status === 401) {
      console.error('Invalid API key. Check your key at console.mistral.ai');
    } else {
      console.error('Connection failed:', error.message);
    }
  }
}

testConnection();

Python

import os
from mistralai import Mistral

client = Mistral(api_key=os.environ["MISTRAL_API_KEY"])

def test_connection():
    try:
        models = client.models.list()
        print("Connection successful! Available models:")
        for model in models.data:
            print(f"  - {model.id}")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Connection failed: {e}")

test_connection()

Step 4: Production — Secret Manager

// GCP Secret Manager (recommended for production)
import { SecretManagerServiceClient } from '@google-cloud/secret-manager';

const sm = new SecretManagerServiceClient();

async function getMistralKey(): Promise<string> {
  const [version] = await sm.accessSecretVersion({
    name: 'projects/my-project/secrets/mistral-api-key/versions/latest',
  });
  return version.payload?.data?.toString() ?? '';
}

// AWS Secrets Manager alternative
import { SecretsManager } from '@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager';

const sm = new SecretsManager({ region: 'us-east-1' });

async function getMistralKey(): Promise<string> {
  const { SecretString } = await sm.getSecretValue({
    SecretId: 'mistral/api-key',
  });
  return SecretString!;
}

Output

• Installed SDK package (@mistralai/mistralai or mistralai)
• Environment variable or .env file with API key
• Successful connection verification listing available models

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
401 Unauthorized	Invalid or missing API key	Verify key at console.mistral.ai
Module not found	SDK not installed	Run npm install @mistralai/mistralai
ERR_REQUIRE_ESM	Using CommonJS require	SDK is ESM-only; use import or dynamic await import()
Network Error	Firewall blocking HTTPS	Ensure outbound HTTPS to api.mistral.ai is allowed

Examples

TypeScript Client with Retry

import { Mistral } from '@mistralai/mistralai';

const client = new Mistral({
  apiKey: process.env.MISTRAL_API_KEY,
  timeoutMs: 30_000,
  maxRetries: 3,
});

export default client;

Python Client with Retry

import os
from mistralai import Mistral

client = Mistral(
    api_key=os.environ["MISTRAL_API_KEY"],
    timeout_ms=30_000,
    max_retries=3,
)

Validate API Key Format

function validateMistralApiKey(key: string): boolean {
  // Mistral keys are typically 32-char hex strings
  return /^[a-zA-Z0-9]{20,}$/.test(key);
}

Resources

• Mistral AI Documentation
• Mistral AI Console
• TypeScript SDK (client-ts)
• Python SDK (client-python)
• API Reference

Next Steps

After successful auth, proceed to mistral-hello-world for your first chat completion.