Hi Xnejp03,

That 503 body looks like it may be coming from the Playground UI/backend path, not necessarily from your AI Gateway key, credits, or the selected image model.

I’d try one request outside the Playground first to isolate it:

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curl -i https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1/models \
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  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY"
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If that works, try a minimal image generation request with one supported image model:

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curl -i https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1/images/generations \
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  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY" \
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  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
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  -d '{
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    "model": "google/imagen-4.0-generate-001",
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    "prompt": "A small red cube on a white background",
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    "n": 1
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  }'
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If the direct API request succeeds but the Playground still shows Generation Failed (Invalid test type) / AI Playground database is not configured, then I’d treat this as a Playground-specific issue rather than something wrong with your project setup.

The image generation API examples are here if you want to compare the request shape:

https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/modalities/image-generation/openai

If it fails both in Playground and through the direct API, the most useful details to share are the exact model ID, status code, redacted response body, timestamp, and x-vercel-id response header. Don’t post the API key.

Yeah, my app works with my API key, it's all good.

But I wanted to run some tests in the Playground - I understand there's no API key there. So I think there is a buf in the Playground BE - hence why I raised it here. Although I'm not sure if the Vercel team looks at these posts, or if there is another place to post bugs.

Hi Xnejp03,

Yeah, that extra context changes the diagnosis. If your app can call AI Gateway successfully with the same account/API setup, then the Gateway key, credits, and selected provider/model are probably not the issue.

A 503 from the Playground with:

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{
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  "error": {
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    "code": "not_configured",
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    "message": "AI Playground database is not configured"
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  }
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}
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sounds like something in the Playground backend/configuration path, not something you can fix from your app code.

I’d keep the report focused on the Playground bug and include:

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- exact Playground URL/page where it happens
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- image model IDs selected
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- timestamp and timezone
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- browser + OS
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- whether it also happens in incognito / another browser
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- redacted Network tab request URL, status code, and response body
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I wouldn’t post any API keys or account IDs.

Community is a reasonable place to surface it, but if you want it tracked more formally, I’d also open a Vercel Support case from the dashboard Support Center: https://vercel.com/docs/support-center

vercel.com

Support Center

Learn how to communicate securely with the Vercel support team

Yeah, I can't create a support ticket for AI on the HObby account, so can only hope someone from Vercel can see this here. I'm imagining it can't be just me.

Btw, a chat in the playground works, it's the ImageGen tab that doesn't.