Debug the AI API route before you switch models

Short summary

When AI API calls fail, switching models is often premature — the real issue is usually route configuration. The article walks through debugging API key scope, base URL, model ID, retry/fallback behavior, and usage logs before blaming the model. It pitches TackleKey, an OpenAI-compatible API workspace for cost-aware debugging.

• •Most AI API failures are route-evidence problems, not model-quality problems
• •Debug key scope, base URL, model ID, retry behavior, and usage logs before switching models
• •Includes a practical checklist for tracing a single request end-to-end

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