# ERROR: Invalid index URL: 'https://example.com/simple' - URL scheme must be http or https

- **ID:** `python/pip-index-url-invalid`
- **Domain:** python
- **Category:** config_error
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 80%

## Root Cause

The pip index URL is malformed, possibly missing the scheme or using an unsupported one.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| 3.9 | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **** (95% success)
   ```
   pip install -i https://pypi.org/simple package
   ```
2. **** (90% success)
   ```
   Create ~/.pip/pip.conf with [global] index-url = https://pypi.org/simple
   ```
3. **** (90% success)
   ```
   Ensure the URL starts with http:// or https://
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **** — May still be malformed. (50% fail)
- **** — Uses default index, not the intended one. (70% fail)
- **** — Same issue. (80% fail)