Troubleshoot common OpenAI API error messages. Find causes and solutions for gateway errors.
Your API key is missing, invalid, or has been revoked.
Check your API key is correct. Ensure it starts with sk-. Regenerate if necessary from your OpenAI dashboard.
You've exceeded your rate limit for API requests.
Implement exponential backoff. Check your usage dashboard. Consider upgrading your plan for higher limits.
OpenAI's servers experienced an internal error.
This is usually transient. Retry with exponential backoff. Check OpenAI status page for ongoing incidents.
OpenAI service is temporarily overloaded or undergoing maintenance.
Wait and retry. Implement circuit breaker pattern. Check status page for maintenance windows.
Request is malformed or missing required parameters.
Validate request JSON. Check message format, required fields, and parameter types.
OpenAI returns rate limit info in headers: X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, Retry-After
Log request/response bodies (without sensitive data) to debug issues. Check error details in response.
Monitor usage, error rates, and latency in your dashboard. Identify patterns causing issues.
Catch specific error codes. Don't just retry all errors - some require code changes, not retries.