Aider error
Aider: The API provider timed out without returning a response
The API provider timed out without returning a response. They may be down or overloaded.Status: Fixed in releaseLast verified 2 documented fixes4 sources
What it means
The request to the model API timed out before a response came back. Older versions showed raw errors such as "Request timed out: HTTPConnectionPool(host='localhost', port=1234): Read timed out. (read timeout=600)", which is common with slow local models (issue #276).
Causes
- The provider or local model server is slow, down or overloaded (aider's exception description).
- Slow local models exceeding the default 600 second read timeout (issue #276).
- A litellm bug where the timeout setting is not honored for ollama_chat/ models (maintainer comment in issue #276, tracked in #3161).
How to fix it
- Fix 1.
Set the API timeout in seconds with --timeout or AIDER_TIMEOUT (added in v0.66.0, with a bugfix in v0.74.0).
Terminalaider --timeout 1200 - Fix 2.
For ollama_chat/ models, the maintainer suggested switching to the ollama/ prefix to work around the litellm timeout bug.
More Aider errors
All 17 Aider errorsThe LLM did not conform to the edit format.Status: WorkaroundSearchReplaceNoExactMatch: This SEARCH block failed to exactly match lines in {path}Status: WorkaroundModel gpt-3.5-turbo has hit a token limit!Status: WorkaroundModel foobar: Unknown context window size and costs, using sane defaults.Status: By designModel azure/gpt-4-turbo: Missing these environment variables:Status: By designaider: The term 'aider' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.Status: Workaroundaider-chat 0.23.0 requires somepackage==X.Y.Z, but you have somepackage U.W.V which is incompatible.Status: WorkaroundThe API provider is not able to authenticate you. Check your API key.Status: By design
Related reading
- Aider vs Claude Code in 2026: Git-First Open Source vs Subagent RuntimeAider vs Claude Code: git-first, model-agnostic Aider against the Claude Code runtime of subagents and hooks. Compare architecture, cost, governance and fit.
- Aider vs Claude Code: Open Source vs Commercial AI Coding CLIAider is open source and works with any model. Claude Code is Anthropic's commercial agent. Here is how they compare for TypeScript.
FAQ
What does "The API provider timed out without returning a response" mean in Aider?
The request to the model API timed out before a response came back. Older versions showed raw errors such as "Request timed out: HTTPConnectionPool(host='localhost', port=1234): Read timed out. (read timeout=600)", which is common with slow local models (issue #276).
How do I fix "The API provider timed out without returning a response"?
There are 2 documented fixes. Start with the first: Set the API timeout in seconds with --timeout or AIDER_TIMEOUT (added in v0.66.0, with a bugfix in v0.74.0).
Is this Aider error fixed?
Status: Fixed in release. A release fixed this. The affected versions note says where the fix landed. Affected versions: --timeout added in v0.66.0; bugfix for --timeout in v0.74.0.
Sources
Last verified against 4 sources: official docs, maintainer replies and release notes.
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