Troubleshooting AI
What each AI error message means and how to fix it.
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Start with Recipes → Settings → AI → Test the connection. It shows the same messages as below.
When AI fails during Paste & Parse, the built-in parser is used instead and you’ll see AI could not read this one, so the built-in parser was used. followed by the reason.
Error messages
| Message | What it means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The AI provider rejected the API key. | The key is wrong, was deleted, or has no access. | Reconnect OpenRouter, or paste a fresh key. Check you copied the whole key. |
| Your AI account is out of credit. | Your balance is empty. | Add credit in your provider’s billing page. |
| That AI model is not available to your key. | The model you typed doesn’t exist or your account can’t use it. | Clear Model to use automatic, or pick another model from the list. |
| The AI provider is rate-limiting your key. | Too many requests in a short time, or a free-tier limit was hit. | Wait a minute and try again. On Gemini’s free tier, wait until the daily limit resets or enable billing. |
| The AI provider returned an error (500). (or another number) | A problem on the provider’s side. | Try again in a few minutes. Check the provider’s status page. |
| The AI reply could not be read. | The model answered in a form Scrumptious couldn’t use. | Try again, or switch to automatic / a different model. |
| AI is not set up, so the built-in parser was used. | No provider is selected, or its key is missing. | Set up a provider under Recipes → Settings → AI. |
| The OpenRouter connection expired. Please click Connect again. | The OpenRouter sign-in took longer than 15 minutes, or was started from a different login. | Click Connect OpenRouter again and finish within 15 minutes. |
| Could not connect OpenRouter: … | OpenRouter refused the connection. | Click Connect OpenRouter again. If it keeps failing, create a key at openrouter.ai and paste it instead. |
Messages from the provider are added after ours, e.g. …rejected the API key. Invalid API key provided.
Other problems
Connect OpenRouter sends me back without connecting. Make sure you approved the request on OpenRouter’s page, and that you’re logged in to WordPress as an administrator in the same browser.
Timeouts or “cURL error 28”. Very long pastes can take longer than your server allows. Paste only the recipe part of the page. Scrumptious waits up to 60 seconds for the provider.
My host blocks outgoing requests. Some locked-down hosts block connections to outside services. Ask your host to allow HTTPS requests to your provider (openrouter.ai, generativelanguage.googleapis.com, api.openai.com or api.anthropic.com).
WordPress AI shows “connect a provider first”. Connect a provider under Settings → Connectors, or choose another option.
