[Bug]: Email budget alerts not working for virtual keys with soft_budget (v1.80.11-v1.80.15)

[lekhamaru]

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• I have searched the existing issues and checked that my issue is not a duplicate.

What happened?

Email budget alerts do not trigger for virtual keys when soft_budget threshold is crossed, despite having all required configuration in place. I want to basically send email alerts when a user's usage crosses a threshold. Please let me know if this feature exists as mentioned in documentation and what config is needed for that to work.
LiteLLM Version: v1.80.11-stable.1 (also tested v1.80.15-stable)
Deployment: Kubernetes (GKE)
Database: PostgreSQL
Email Provider: SMTP
Python Version: 3.13
When a virtual key's spend crosses soft_budget threshold, an email alert should be sent via SMTP according to the configuration.
According to release notes, v1.80.11 introduced "Email Budget Alerts - Send email notifications when budgets are reached."
No email alert is sent when soft_budget threshold is crossed, even though:
Spend is at 101% of soft_budget (threshold crossed)
SMTP configuration is verified working (manual test successful)
All required configuration present
Budget table properly configured and linked

Steps to Reproduce

litellm_settings:
callbacks: ["smtp_email"]

general_settings:
alerting: ["email"]
alerting_threshold: 0.8
alert_emails: ["test@example.com"]
smtp_host: "smtp.example.com"
smtp_port: 25
smtp_sender_email: "alerts@example.com"
smtp_use_tls: false

sql
budget_id: test-budget-001
soft_budget: 0.001
max_budget: 0.002

sql
key_alias: test-key
budget_id: test-budget-001 -- Linked to budget
spend: 0.00101 -- 101% of soft_budget
soft_budget_cooldown: false

sql
user_id: test-user
user_email: test@example.com

Configure SMTP settings in ConfigMap
Create budget in LiteLLM_BudgetTable with soft_budget: 0.001
Create virtual key linked to budget via budget_id
Make API requests until spend crosses soft_budget (100%)
Observe: No email alert sent

Relevant log output

Email alert functions exist:
base_email.py: send_soft_budget_alert_email()
base_email.py: budget_alerts() with type="soft_budget" support

 Check function exists and is called:

auth_checks.py: _virtual_key_soft_budget_check()
Called from user_api_key_auth.py during authentication
Uses condition: if valid_token.soft_budget and valid_token.spend >= valid_token.soft_budget

Root cause:

Budget table is loaded for end users, tags, and team members
Budget table is NOT loaded for virtual keys (LiteLLM_VerificationToken)
valid_token.litellm_budget_table remains None
valid_token.soft_budget is never populated from database
Check condition fails, alert never triggers

What part of LiteLLM is this about?

No response

What LiteLLM version are you on ?

v1.80.11-stable.1

Twitter / LinkedIn details

No response

[lekhamaru]

When would the PR merge happen and code released?

[ryan-crabbe-berri]

was not able to repro the email alerts not working for virtual keys at all, this feature however was not clearly communicated in the docs that it was enterprise and might be why it didn't work for you

there was a separate bug for projected spend that wasn't working as intended and messing with cache for this, but the auth time check for spend for soft budgets for keys was always fine. closing this, feel free to reopen if you have any questions