diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index c2e52944..272aa44b 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "poetry.core.masonry.api"
 
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "swarms"
-version = "1.7.8"
+version = "1.7.9"
 description = "Swarms - Pytorch"
 license = "MIT"
 authors = ["Kye Gomez <kye@apac.ai>"]
diff --git a/swarms/workers/worker.py b/swarms/workers/worker.py
index 9059fd84..a0852127 100644
--- a/swarms/workers/worker.py
+++ b/swarms/workers/worker.py
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ from swarms.utils.decorators import error_decorator, log_decorator, timing_decor
 ROOT_DIR = "./data/"
 
 # main
-openai_api_key = os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]
+OPENAI_API_KEY = os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]
+
 
 class Worker:
     """
@@ -72,7 +73,7 @@ class Worker:
         self.temperature = temperature
         self.human_in_the_loop = human_in_the_loop
         self.llm = llm
-        self.openai_api_key = openai_api_key or os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]
+        self.openai_api_key = openai_api_key or OPENAI_API_KEY
         self.ai_name = ai_name
         self.ai_role = ai_role
         self.setup_tools(external_tools)
@@ -281,4 +282,4 @@ class Worker:
         if isinstance(message, str):
             return {"content": message}
         else:
-            return message
+            return message
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