Vercel · billing · fg-0238

AI Gateway rejects requests with 'Insufficient funds' even though a BYOK provider key is configured

Insufficient funds. Please add credits to your account to continue using AI services.

Verified 2026-10-15 · Confirmed by 0 builders · Trust 50/100

Cause

AI Gateway checks the credit balance before using BYOK credentials because it can fall back to its own providers when the BYOK call fails. A zero balance blocks the request even when your key would have served it.

Fix

Keep a small positive credit balance on the team, or call the provider directly for traffic that must never touch gateway credits.

Apply

Vercel dashboard > AI Gateway > Credits: keep a nonzero balance (consider auto top-up)

Affects: Vercel AI Gateway with BYOK, confirmed as intended behavior in August 2026

Sources

https://github.com/vercel/ai/issues/11280

Have your agent know this before it fails

claude mcp add --transport http footgun https://getfootgun.com/api/mcp