Fix a ChatGPT capacity error and keep working.

The "ChatGPT is at capacity right now" error usually means the upstream OpenAI service is congested, throttling free-tier traffic, or running a partial incident. The error is on OpenAI's side, not on your browser, your extension, or the page you're trying to summarize. The fastest fix is almost always to wait briefly, verify on status.openai.com, and then either reduce the request size or switch to a different AI provider until OpenAI recovers. This page covers the real fixes that work, plus how Reduz lets you keep your Chrome summarization workflow moving while OpenAI catches up.

Check these first

• An active OpenAI incident affecting the model you're using (check status.openai.com).
• Free-tier throttling during peak hours — paid API tiers usually have higher priority than the free chat product.
• A specific model is overloaded while others are fine (GPT-5.4 Mini may work when GPT-5.5 is throttled).
• The source is large enough that the request hits a slower queue than short prompts.
• You're using a regional endpoint that's experiencing higher load than your default.

Fix it in this order

1. 1

   Check status.openai.com first

   Before changing anything, open status.openai.com in a new tab. If there's an active incident on the model you're using, retrying immediately won't help — note the affected services and wait for "monitoring" or "resolved" status.

2. 2

   Wait 30-60 seconds, then retry once

   Transient capacity errors usually clear within a minute. Wait 30-60 seconds and retry the same request once. If it works, you were caught in a brief spike — keep moving.

3. 3

   Try a smaller model variant

   If GPT-5.5 is overloaded, GPT-5.4 Mini or GPT-5.4 Nano may be available with lower latency. In Reduz, open settings, pick the smaller variant under OpenAI provider, and retry. Quality may be slightly lower but the request will go through.

4. 4

   Reduce the source size

   Large PDFs and long transcripts are more likely to hit capacity walls than short articles. Use selected-text mode on the relevant section, summarize a page range from a long PDF, or break a 90-minute video summary into two passes.

5. 5

   Switch to a different provider

   When OpenAI stays unavailable, switch Reduz to Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, or xAI Grok from the provider selector in extension settings. The same source — article, PDF, YouTube video — runs through a different model and you keep your workflow moving.

6. 6

   Verify your account has API credit

   If the error persists across models, log into platform.openai.com and confirm your account has billing enabled and unused credit. A depleted balance can surface as capacity-style errors on some account tiers.

Diagnosis

Provider-side, not browser-side

Capacity errors come from OpenAI's upstream API, not from Reduz, Chrome, or the page you're summarizing. Confirm by checking status.openai.com.

Model-specific

A capacity issue on GPT-5.5 doesn't necessarily affect GPT-5.4 Mini, GPT-4.1, or other OpenAI models. Try a sibling model before switching providers.

Request-size sensitive

Long PDFs and transcripts consume more tokens and hit capacity walls earlier than short prompts. Smaller requests often succeed when large ones fail.

Tier-dependent

Free-tier ChatGPT users see capacity errors more often than paid API users. If you're hitting these constantly, BYOK with a personal OpenAI API key may give you steadier access than the free chat product.

Keep summarizing while OpenAI recovers

Reduz can't bypass an OpenAI-side capacity limit — nothing can. What Reduz does is decouple your Chrome summarization workflow from any single provider. When ChatGPT is at capacity, you can switch the same workflow to Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, or xAI Grok from extension settings with one click. The source — your article, PDF, or YouTube video — stays where it is. Only the generation provider changes. bring your own AI key sends the request direct from your browser to your selected provider, so you bypass any vendor relay that might also be congested. Hosted Free uses Reduz's own relay with 100 monthly credits and a different routing path than ChatGPT itself.

Frequently asked questions