AI Not Responding

Last updated: April 2026

If RockTerm's AI features are not responding, returning errors, or timing out, work through the following troubleshooting steps in order. Most issues can be resolved quickly.

Before you start, check which provider is active. The top of the AI Assistant panel shows the current Provider and Model. RockTerm supports both Anthropic Claude (api.anthropic.com) and OpenAI GPT (api.openai.com) — the troubleshooting steps below apply to whichever provider you selected in Edit → Preferences → AI Assistant.

1. Check Your Internet Connection

RockTerm's AI features require an active internet connection to the provider you selected.

• Verify that your machine can reach external websites.
• Confirm that HTTPS traffic to the provider endpoint is not blocked:
  • curl https://api.anthropic.com (Anthropic)
  • curl https://api.openai.com (OpenAI)
• If you are on a restricted network, see the firewall and proxy section below.

2. Verify Your API Key

An invalid, expired, or revoked API key will prevent AI features from functioning.

• Open Edit → Preferences → AI Assistant and confirm that a key is entered for the active provider.
• Check that the key has not been accidentally truncated or modified.
• Sign in to the provider's console and verify that the key is still active:
  • console.anthropic.com
  • platform.openai.com/api-keys
• If you are unsure whether the key is valid, generate a new one, paste it into RockTerm, and try again.

3. Check for Rate Limits or Billing Issues

Both providers enforce rate limits and require an active billing arrangement. If RockTerm detects a rate-limit, quota, or billing error, the AI panel shows a friendly message explaining what happened — but the underlying fix is on the provider side.

• Visit your provider's dashboard and check for alerts or warnings:
  • Anthropic console
  • OpenAI usage dashboard
• Verify that your account has a valid payment method on file and that you have not exceeded your spending limit.
• If you have hit a rate limit, wait a few minutes and try again. Rate limits typically reset after a short period.
• If the problem persists, try switching to the other provider in Preferences as a workaround while you resolve the account issue.

4. Corporate Firewall or Proxy

If you are on a corporate or institutional network, security policies may block outbound HTTPS requests to the provider API endpoint.

• Contact your network administrator to confirm that traffic to api.anthropic.com or api.openai.com (port 443) is permitted.
• If your network requires a proxy, ensure that your system's proxy settings are configured correctly. RockTerm respects the system-level proxy configuration.
• Some deep packet inspection (DPI) systems can interfere with API traffic. If you suspect this is the case, work with your IT department to whitelist the relevant endpoint.

5. Check for a Provider Outage

On rare occasions, the provider API may experience service disruptions.

• Visit the provider status page:
  • status.anthropic.com
  • status.openai.com
• If there is a reported outage, wait for the provider to resolve the issue and try again. In the meantime, switching to the other provider in Preferences is often the fastest workaround.

6. Confirm the AI Assistant Is Configured

AI features require a provider, model, and API key before they will respond.

• Open Edit → Preferences → AI Assistant.
• Verify that Provider, Model, and API Key are all set.
• Open the panel with Ctrl+Shift+I or View → AI Assistant and confirm the top bar shows the provider and model you expect.
• If you recently updated RockTerm, verify that your AI settings were preserved. In some cases, a major update may reset preferences to their defaults.

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Still need help?

If you're still experiencing issues, contact us or email info@rockriverresearch.com.