Troubleshooting Anthropic Timeout Errors in Python with Fikra API

If you are encountering timeout errors while using Python with an Anthropic-style integration, note that Fikra API does not serve Anthropic models. Fikra provides OpenAI-compatible chat-completions endpoints for its own model aliases (e.g., fikra-flash, fikra-pro-20b).

Common HTTP Status Codes in Fikra API

• 400 Bad Request: The request body is malformed, or the specified model alias is not supported. Verify that your model field matches a current Fikra alias.
• 401 Unauthorized: The Authorization header is missing, the API key is invalid, or the key is inactive. Ensure you are using a valid fk_live_... key from your Fikra dashboard.
• 402 Payment Required: Your token-credit wallet balance is insufficient. Top up your wallet via the Fikra dashboard to continue.
• 429 Too Many Requests: You have exceeded the rate limit. Unverified accounts are limited to 30 RPM; trusted accounts to 100 RPM.
• 503 Service Unavailable: The upstream provider is temporarily unavailable. This is a transient error.

Handling 429 and 503 with Exponential Backoff

When you receive a 429 or 503 response, implement exponential backoff to retry the request. Do not assume automatic failover or dedicated capacity.

import time
import random
import requests

FIKRA_API_KEY = "your_fikra_api_key"
BASE_URL = "https://api.fikraapi.co.ke/v1"

headers = {
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {FIKRA_API_KEY}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

def call_fikra_api(payload, max_retries=5):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/chat/completions", headers=headers, json=payload)

        if response.status_code in [429, 503]:
            # Exponential backoff with jitter
            wait_time = (2 ** attempt) + random.uniform(0, 1)
            print(f"Received {response.status_code}. Retrying in {wait_time:.2f}s...")
            time.sleep(wait_time)
            continue

        if response.status_code == 200:
            return response.json()
        else:
            # Handle other errors (400, 401, 402) immediately
            raise Exception(f"API Error {response.status_code}: {response.text}")

    raise Exception("Max retries exceeded for 429/503 errors.")

# Example usage
payload = {
    "model": "fikra-flash",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
}

try:
    result = call_fikra_api(payload)
    print(result)
except Exception as e:
    print(e)

Notes

• Fikra API does not guarantee uptime SLAs or automatic failover.
• Always check the Fikra dashboard for your current rate limit tier and wallet balance.
• If you continue to experience timeouts, verify your network connection and ensure you are using the correct base URL: https://api.fikraapi.co.ke/v1.