ALC-9004: Service unavailable
Something Alcuin depends on could not take the request. Either Alcuin’s own engine process stopped and was not restarted, or the assistant’s provider turned the request down.
Alcuin’s engine stopped
Section titled “Alcuin’s engine stopped”Alcuin runs its database work in a separate engine process. When the engine exits, Alcuin restarts it and reconnects. When it exits six times within a minute, Alcuin stops restarting it.
What you see
Section titled “What you see”A banner across the window: The engine stopped., followed by It exited six times in a minute, so it is not being restarted automatically. Your tabs and unsaved queries are safe., and a Restart engine button. Every request waiting on the engine fails with this code.
The banner, with Restart engine.
If the window could not reach the engine at all, requests fail with The engine is not answering. Reload the window to try again.
What to do
Section titled “What to do”- Choose Restart engine, or reload the window if there is no banner.
- If it stops again, this is a bug. Choose Help → Save Diagnostics Bundle… and save the file. Logs and the diagnostics bundle lists what it holds. Read it before you share it.
- Open an issue at Alcuin’s GitHub issues with what you were doing when it stopped, and the bundle.
The assistant’s provider could not take the request
Section titled “The assistant’s provider could not take the request”What you see
Section titled “What you see”In the assistant pane, or under Test connection in Settings, under AI Assistant:
The provider is limiting requests, followed by what the provider said.The provider answered 503, or another status code, followed by what the provider said.The provider stopped: …The provider sent no answer.The provider sent an answer Alcuin cannot read.The model declined to answer that.
Why it happens
Section titled “Why it happens”- Limiting requests: the provider answered 429. You sent too many requests, or used up your quota or credit.
- Answered with a status code: the provider had a problem of its own (a 5xx code), or refused the request for a reason it states.
- Stopped, or sent no answer: the provider ended the answer early.
- Cannot read: the answer is not in the format Alcuin expects. Usually Address points at a server that speaks a different API from the Provider chosen in Settings, under AI Assistant.
- Declined: the model refused to answer the question as asked.
What to do
Section titled “What to do”- For limits and 5xx codes, wait a little and try again. Check your plan or quota with the provider.
- For
cannot read, check that Provider and Address in Settings, under AI Assistant, belong together, then choose Test connection. - For
declined, rephrase the question.
Internal name
Section titled “Internal name”The engine reports this as ENGINE_UNAVAILABLE. Quote either name in an issue.