Claude Code · Server and limits
API Error: Repeated 529 Overloaded errors
The API is temporarily at capacity for everyone. It doesn’t count against your usage limit, and switching model usually gets you going.
Message
The exact error
API Error: Repeated 529 Overloaded errors. The API is at capacity — this is usually temporary. Try again in a moment. If it persists, check https://status.claude.com.Also appears as:
- When one model is under heavy load
- Opus is experiencing high load, please use /model to switch to Sonnet
Meaning
What it means
A 529 means the service is overloaded across all users, not that you did anything wrong or ran out of quota. Claude Code has already retried several times before showing it. Capacity is tracked per model, so a busy model doesn’t mean every model is busy.
Causes
Common causes
- Peak demand on the API or on one model in particular
Fix
How to fix it
Switch to another model
Run
/modeland pick a different model to keep working. Note that the new model starts without the prompt cache, so the next request re-reads the conversation in full.Wait and retry
Try again in a few minutes and check status.claude.com for capacity notices.
For unattended runs, keep retrying
In CI or other unattended sessions, set
CLAUDE_CODE_RETRY_WATCHDOG=1so Claude Code keeps retrying 429 and 529 capacity errors instead of giving up after the normal number of attempts.
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