OpenAI API APIConnectionError (no HTTP status): what it means and how to fix it

What it means

The request could not reach OpenAI's servers or establish a secure connection. The SDK raises a subclass of APIConnectionError and retries connection errors by default (2 times with short exponential backoff).

Causes

• Network issues
• Proxy configuration
• SSL certificate problems
• Firewall rules blocking or filtering the service
• Container lacking permission to send and receive traffic

How to fix it

1. 1
   Fix 1.

   Check network settings, proxy configuration, SSL certificates and firewall rules.

2. 2
   Fix 2.

   Catch SDK exceptions and handle connection errors separately from API errors.

   Snippet

   Copy

   import openai
   from openai import OpenAI
   
   client = OpenAI()
   
   try:
       response = client.responses.create(model="gpt-6-astra", input="Hello world")
   except openai.APIConnectionError as e:
       print(f"Failed to connect to OpenAI API: {e}")
   except openai.RateLimitError as e:
       print(f"OpenAI API request exceeded rate limit: {e}")
   except openai.APIError as e:
       print(f"OpenAI API returned an API Error: {e}")
   else:
       print(response.output_text)