---
title: "Troubleshooting AI"
description: "What each AI error message means and how to fix it."
url: https://scrumptiouswp.com/help/ai-troubleshooting/
site: "ScrumptiousWP"
---

# Troubleshooting AI

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.

## Related

- [Setting up AI](https://scrumptiouswp.com/help/ai-setup/)
- [Paste & Parse](https://scrumptiouswp.com/help/paste-and-parse/)