fix(otel): guard against None message in set_attributes tool_calls

[Harshit28j]

Relevant issues

fixes AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'get'

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Type

🐛 Bug Fix

Changes

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
litellm	Ready	Preview, Comment	Feb 3, 2026 0:32am

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

This PR adds defensive null guards in the OpenTelemetry integration's set_attributes method to prevent AttributeError when processing response choices with None messages.

Key changes:

• Line 1627: Changed choice.get("message") to choice.get("message") or {} to default to empty dict
• Line 1628: Changed message.get("tool_calls") to message.get("tool_calls") or [] to default to empty list

The fix is simple and effective - when a choice has a finish_reason but a None message (which can occur in certain edge cases), the code now safely handles this by using empty defaults instead of crashing. The _tool_calls_kv_pair method can safely handle an empty list, and the if tool_calls: check will correctly skip empty lists.

Note: The PR checklist indicates tests were added, but no test files are included in this commit. Verify that tests exist elsewhere or were added in a separate commit.

Confidence Score: 4/5

• This PR is safe to merge with minimal risk - it's a defensive bug fix that prevents crashes
• The fix properly addresses a real crash (AttributeError) with a simple, defensive coding pattern. The changes use Python's or operator to provide safe defaults (empty dict and empty list) when values are None. The logic is sound and the fix is minimal. Score is 4 instead of 5 because: (1) the PR claims tests were added but they're not visible in the commit, and (2) the fix is in a critical observability integration where any issues could affect production monitoring.
• No files require special attention - the change is straightforward and localized

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
litellm/integrations/opentelemetry.py	Added null guards for message and tool_calls to prevent AttributeError when response choices contain None message

Sequence Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant Client as LLM Client
    participant OTEL as OpenTelemetry.set_attributes
    participant Response as response_obj
    participant Choice as choice.message
    participant ToolCalls as _tool_calls_kv_pair
    
    Client->>OTEL: log_success_event(response_obj)
    OTEL->>Response: get("choices")
    Response-->>OTEL: choices array
    
    loop For each choice with finish_reason
        OTEL->>Choice: choice.get("message")
        alt message is None (Edge Case)
            Choice-->>OTEL: None
            Note over OTEL: Before fix: AttributeError<br/>After fix: or {} returns empty dict
            OTEL->>OTEL: message = {}
        else message exists
            Choice-->>OTEL: message dict
        end
        
        OTEL->>Choice: message.get("tool_calls")
        alt tool_calls is None
            Choice-->>OTEL: None
            Note over OTEL: After fix: or [] returns empty list
            OTEL->>OTEL: tool_calls = []
        else tool_calls exists
            Choice-->>OTEL: tool_calls array
        end
        
        alt tool_calls is not empty
            OTEL->>ToolCalls: _tool_calls_kv_pair(tool_calls)
            ToolCalls-->>OTEL: key-value pairs
            OTEL->>OTEL: safe_set_attribute(span, key, value)
        end
    end
    
    OTEL-->>Client: attributes set successfully

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[greptile-apps]

_{1 file reviewed, 1 comment}

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[krrishdholakia]

@Harshit28j can you please fix the linting error?