"Invalid URL" error across multiple providers

Summary

Several users are reporting an Invalid URL error with no additional context, across different providers and configurations. This is a tracking issue to consolidate the reports and fix the underlying causes.

Related issues: #6717, #9630, #9864, #10317, #10800, #11049, #11249, #11488

Are you hitting this?

The most common reason is an apiBase value that's missing the protocol. For example:

# This will cause "Invalid URL"
apiBase: localhost:11434

# This works
apiBase: http://localhost:11434

If you're using a provider like Ollama locally and haven't set apiBase at all, it should default correctly — but if you have set it, make sure it includes http:// or https://.

If you're using models from the Continue hub (registry packages with ${{ secrets.* }}), the error may occur if a secret failed to resolve, leaving a template string where a URL is expected.

What the error looks like

Error handling model response
There was an error handling the response from <model name>.

Invalid URL

No further detail is provided, which makes it hard to diagnose.

Start by reproducing the error with the apiBase examples in the issue, including a missing protocol and an unresolved ${{ secrets.* }} template. Trace provider configuration and Continue hub registry package handling to identify where the generic error loses context. Done should include fixes for the underlying cases and more diagnostic detail than the current “Invalid URL” message.