Visitors see "temporarily unavailable" or a busy message

When you're done, your Chirp answers visitors again, or you know why it can't and what they're told.

Who this is for: Chirp owners and their team, when a visitor says a Chirp "doesn't work" or its page shows a message instead of an answer. If you're a visitor, tell the person who shared the Chirp: only they can fix it.

What you see

Visitors never see the real reason, only a short message. It shows either on a card in place of the chat, as soon as the page opens, or in a red box (1) after they send a message. Under the red box, the circular-arrow button Regenerate (2) sends the same message again.

What visitors see	Why, and the fix
"Chirp not found"	The Chirp isn't shared, or the link is wrong
"This Chirp is temporarily unavailable. Please check back later."	No plan, paused access or a paused workspace
"This Chirp isn't connected to an AI service yet. Please check back soon."	The OpenRouter key
"This Chirp can't answer right now because its AI service needs attention from the owner. Please try again later."	The OpenRouter key or OpenRouter refused the request
"This Chirp can't answer right now. Please try again later."	The OpenRouter key
"This Chirp can't answer right now because its AI model needs attention from the owner. Please try again later."	The AI model was retired
"This Chirp is taking a short break. Please check back later."	The Chirp is paused
"You've reached today's message limit for this Chirp. Please come back tomorrow." or "This Chirp has reached its message limit for today. Please come back tomorrow."	A daily limit was reached
"You've sent a lot of messages. Please wait a bit and try again."	Too many messages in an hour
"This Chirp is answering a lot of people right now. Please try again in a moment."	Too many replies at once
"Busy, try again in a moment.", "The AI service had a problem. Please try again." and similar	OpenRouter or the AI provider had a problem
"This conversation is too long for this Chirp. Please start a new chat."	The conversation is too long for the model
"This Chirp can't answer that message. Please try asking in a different way."	The AI provider refused the message
"The Chirp didn't answer this time. Please try again."	The Chirp sent an empty reply
"This Chirp needs an access code.", or a password or sign-in step	Visitors have to enter a code or sign in
"Connection lost. Please try again."	The problem is on the visitor's side

Find the real reason

Several causes share one message, so check before you change anything:

1. Ask for the exact words the visitor saw, and find them in the table above.

2. Send a message in the preview. Open Chirps, click Edit on the Chirp (View if you're a viewer), and ask something in the preview on the right. When the Chirp can't answer, the preview says why, worded for you.

   

   The preview skips Pause this Chirp, the daily limits and access checks, and it uses what you last saved, not the published version. So if the preview answers and visitors don't, look at The Chirp is paused, A daily limit was reached, access checks, and changes you haven't published.

3. Look at Analytics. Open Analytics in the menu. Errors ("Visitor messages that got no answer") counts messages turned away by a limit, a busy moment, the account or workspace, or an AI problem, and the table under it has an Errors column per Chirp. Messages to a paused Chirp, to a Chirp that isn't found, and your own preview messages aren't counted.

The Chirp isn't shared, or the link is wrong

Visitors see a card that says "Chirp not found" and "This link may be wrong, or the Chirp isn't shared anymore.", with Go home. In a chat that was already open, the red box says "Chirp not found".

• The link is wrong: copy it again with Share in the editor. See Share your Chirp's link.
• The Chirp is a Draft: in 8. Sharing, choose Unlisted or Public and click Save. See Publish, update or unpublish a Chirp.
• The Chirp is archived: on the Chirps page, click Archived, then ••• and Bring back on its card. See Duplicate, archive or delete a Chirp.
• The Chirp was deleted: there's no undo. If you exported it, you can import it again: see Export Chirps and import a package.

Collections leave out Draft and archived Chirps, without a message.

The account has no plan

When the Chirp's owner has no plan, or the plan has ended, visitors see a card with the Chirp's name and "This Chirp is temporarily unavailable. Please check back later."

Your preview says "Choose a plan and connect your OpenRouter key so your Chirps can answer." In your other workspaces it says the workspace isn't included in your plan. A Collection's page says "This Collection isn't available right now. Please check back later."

To fix it, get a plan: email joanaltres@dfydata.com, or write to us from Help about Plan and billing. Your saved OpenRouter key is kept, so your Chirps answer again as soon as the plan is on your account. See What you can do without a plan.

The owner's access is paused

Visitors see the same "This Chirp is temporarily unavailable. Please check back later." card. The owner's Collections say "Collection not found", and their profile page says "Profile not found". See My access is paused.

The workspace isn't in the plan

If your plan has fewer workspaces than you have, the extra ones are paused. Their Chirps show visitors "This Chirp is temporarily unavailable. Please check back later."

• In that workspace, your dashboard says "This workspace isn't included in your current plan, so its Chirps don't answer visitors. Upgrade, move its Chirps to a workspace that works, or delete a workspace you don't need." with See plans, and the workspace shows Paused in Settings under Workspaces.
• Your preview says "This Chirp's workspace isn't included in your current plan, so its Chirps can't answer. Upgrade, move its Chirps to a workspace that works, or delete a workspace you don't need."
• Team members' preview says "This Chirp's workspace isn't included in the account owner's plan right now, so it can't answer. Ask the account owner about it."

To fix it, get a plan with more workspaces, move the Chirps to a workspace that works (see Move a Chirp to another workspace), or delete a workspace you don't need (see Create, rename, switch and delete workspaces). It works again within about a minute. See Workspaces: what they are and how many each plan has.

The OpenRouter key isn't working

• "This Chirp isn't connected to an AI service yet. Please check back soon.": there's no key. It shows on a card as soon as the page opens.
• "This Chirp can't answer right now because its AI service needs attention from the owner. Please try again later.": the key was deleted, expired or typed wrong, or OpenRouter refused the request because of the key's settings there (see OpenRouter refused the request).
• "This Chirp can't answer right now. Please try again later.": there's no credit to use, on the OpenRouter account or within the key's own credit limit.

See My Chirp says my AI key isn't working or has no credit. After a fix, visitors who see the card need to reload the page.

The AI model was retired

"This Chirp can't answer right now because its AI model needs attention from the owner. Please try again later." OpenRouter no longer offers the Chirp's model. Choose another one, save and publish: see My Chirp's model isn't offered anymore.

The Chirp is paused

"This Chirp is taking a short break. Please check back later." Someone turned on Pause this Chirp. The Chirp's card and its editor show Paused.

In the editor, under 10. Visitor limits, turn off Pause this Chirp and click Save. Visitors can chat again at once: there's nothing to publish. See Visitor limits and pausing a Chirp.

A daily limit was reached

• "You've reached today's message limit for this Chirp. Please come back tomorrow.": this visitor used up Messages per visitor per day.
• "This Chirp has reached its message limit for today. Please come back tomorrow.": all visitors together used up Messages per day for this Chirp.

Both are under 10. Visitor limits in the editor, below Pause this Chirp (1). To let visitors send more, raise Messages per visitor per day (2) or Messages per day for this Chirp, or empty the box for no limit, and click Save. It works at once, also for visitors who already reached the limit.

• Days start again at midnight UTC.
• "Per visitor" means per internet connection, so people on one office or school network share it.
• Every message counts, including Regenerate and messages that got no answer.
• The daily limits never apply to your preview. On the Chirp's public page, you count like any visitor.
• Students see "You've asked the tutor a lot today. Your lessons still work; the tutor is back tomorrow." or "The tutor has reached its message limit for today. Your lessons still work; the tutor is back tomorrow."

Too many messages in an hour

"You've sent a lot of messages. Please wait a bit and try again." This limit protects every Chirp: it stops a lot of messages to one Chirp from one internet connection within the same hour. It isn't a setting, and it counts your preview too.

Wait until the next full hour: the count starts again on the hour. People on one office or school network share the count.

Too many replies at once

"This Chirp is answering a lot of people right now. Please try again in a moment." All your Chirps together can write only so many replies at the same time. Bigger plans allow more.

• Your preview says, for example, "Your Chirps are already writing 5 replies at once, the most your plan allows. Try again in a moment, or move to a bigger plan for more. (Visitors see a "try again in a moment" message.)"
• Team members see "This account's Chirps are already writing 5 replies at once, the most the account owner's plan allows. Try again in a moment. (Visitors see a "try again in a moment" message.)"
• Students see "The tutor is busy right now. Please try again in a moment."

Try again in a moment. If it happens often, a bigger plan helps: email joanaltres@dfydata.com, or write to us from Help about Plan and billing.

OpenRouter or the AI provider had a problem

Visitors see one of:

• "Busy, try again in a moment."
• "The AI service had a problem. Please try again."
• "The AI service had a problem partway through this answer. Please try again."
• "Couldn't reach the AI service just now. Please try again."
• "Something went wrong. Please try again."

OpenRouter, or the AI company behind the model, was busy, down or stopped partway. When it's busy or can't be reached, Chirp Builder already tries again twice by itself before an answer starts. Free models are busy more often.

Your preview gives the model and the error number, for example "OpenRouter couldn't get an answer from "anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5" just now (error 503). Try again, or choose another model if it keeps happening." For a problem partway through, it says "OpenRouter reported a problem partway through this answer from "anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5". Try again, or choose another model if it keeps happening.", with OpenRouter's own words in brackets after the model when it gave any.

Click Regenerate. If it keeps happening, choose another model under 5. Model, click Save, then Publish changes. See Choose your Chirp's AI model.

The conversation is too long for the model

"This conversation is too long for this Chirp. Please start a new chat." The instructions, the knowledge sent, the conversation and Max reply tokens together are more than the model can read at once. Trying again won't help.

Your preview says "This is more text than "anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5" can read at once (the instructions, knowledge, conversation and Max reply tokens together). Choose a model that reads more, set Knowledge mode to Automatic or Search for best passages instead of Always send full text, or lower Max reply tokens."

To fix it, do one or more of these in the editor, then click Save and Publish changes:

1. Under 4. Knowledge, set Knowledge mode to Automatic or Search for best passages instead of Always send full text. See How a Chirp uses its files.
2. Under 5. Model, choose a model that reads more. The list shows how much each one reads, for example "200k context".
3. Under 5. Model, lower Max reply tokens.

Visitors can carry on in a new chat. Students see "This conversation is too long for the tutor. Start over with the button at the top, then ask again."

The AI provider refused the message

"This Chirp can't answer that message. Please try asking in a different way." Some AI companies check each message, and the model's company refused this one.

Your preview says "The AI provider's moderation flagged this message, so "anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5" didn't answer. The OpenRouter key is fine. Try asking in a different way, or choose another model." Your key's label doesn't change.

Usually nothing needs fixing. If ordinary questions about your topic get refused, choose another model. Students see "The tutor can't answer that message. Please try asking in a different way."

OpenRouter refused the request

Visitors see "This Chirp can't answer right now because its AI service needs attention from the owner. Please try again later." and your preview says "OpenRouter refused this request to "anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5" (error 403). The key works, but its settings at OpenRouter may block this model or provider, or it isn't allowed to make this request. Check the key's settings at openrouter.ai, or choose another model." Your key's label doesn't change.

At openrouter.ai, open the key's settings and check any limits on which models or providers it may use, or choose a model the key allows under 5. Model, then Save and Publish changes.

The Chirp sent an empty reply

"The Chirp didn't answer this time. Please try again." The model sent back no text, for example because it spent all of Max reply tokens thinking before it answered.

Your preview says "The Chirp didn't answer this time. Please try again. If it keeps happening, raise Max reply tokens or choose another model." Click Regenerate. If it keeps happening, raise Max reply tokens under 5. Model, or choose another model, then Save and Publish changes. Students see "The tutor didn't answer. Please try again."

An answer that stops in the middle of a sentence reached Max reply tokens: raise it the same way. See Choose your Chirp's AI model.

Visitors have to enter a code or sign in

"This Chirp needs an access code.", a password, an invitation or an email step aren't errors: the Chirp asks visitors to get past them first. If visitors are stuck there, see Visitors can't get past the access code or sign-in.

The problem is on the visitor's side

• "Connection lost. Please try again." The visitor's internet connection dropped. They send the message again.
• "Messages can be up to 60,000 characters including attachments." The message, with any attached files, is too long. They shorten it or split it up.

Good to know

• Visitors are never told about keys, plans or billing. Use the preview to see the reason.
• Cards are decided when the page opens. After a fix, visitors who see a card need to reload the page. In a chat that's already open, the next message works.
• How fast a fix reaches visitors: the key, the plan, Pause this Chirp and the daily limits at once; a workspace within about a minute; the model, Max reply tokens and Knowledge mode after Publish changes.
• On your own public page, you're a visitor. Pause this Chirp, the daily limits and an access code apply to you there. Use the preview to test as the owner.
• On your website, the chat shows the same cards and messages. The floating chat button shows even when the Chirp can't answer. If the chat doesn't appear at all, see My website embed is blank or doesn't appear.
• Students in an Academy see tutor messages. For a problem on the owner's side, such as the plan, the key or the model, that's "The AI tutor isn't available right now. Your lessons and progress still work."
• Every message visitors might see is listed in What visitors see, and their conversations.