vercel/ai · error · AISDKError

Transcription request timed out after 60 seconds

Error message

Transcription request timed out after 60 seconds

What it means

The fal transcription model polls fal.ai's queue API for a transcription result; if the elapsed time since the request started exceeds the configured timeout (default 60 seconds), it throws an AISDKError named 'TranscriptionRequestTimedOut'. This is thrown inside doGenerate after a response iteration/step completes but the job still isn't done within the deadline.

Source

Thrown at packages/fal/src/fal-transcription-model.ts:200

        responseHeaders = statusHeaders;
        rawResponse = statusRawResponse;
        break;
      } catch (error) {
        // If the error message indicates the request is still in progress, ignore it and continue polling
        if (
          error instanceof Error &&
          error.message === 'Request is still in progress'
        ) {
          // Continue with the polling loop
        } else {
          // Re-throw any other errors
          throw error;
        }
      }

      // Check if we've exceeded the timeout
      if (Date.now() - startTime > timeoutMs) {
        throw new AISDKError({
          message: 'Transcription request timed out after 60 seconds',
          name: 'TranscriptionRequestTimedOut',
          cause: response,
        });
      }

      // Wait before polling again
      await delay(pollIntervalMs);
    }

    return {
      text: response.text,
      segments:
        response.chunks?.map(chunk => ({
          text: chunk.text,
          startSecond: chunk.timestamp?.at(0) ?? 0,
          endSecond: chunk.timestamp?.at(1) ?? 0,
        })) ?? [],

View on GitHub (pinned to 69428b1f8b)

Solutions

1. Increase the timeout option on the fal transcription model configuration (raise timeoutMs above the audio's expected processing time)
2. Retry the transcription; fal queue delays are often transient
3. Chunk long audio into smaller segments so each request finishes within the timeout
4. Verify the fal model/endpoint is healthy and check fal.ai status for incidents

Example fix

// before
const falProvider = createFal({ credentials: key });
await falProvider.transcription.model('whisper-large').doGenerate({ ... });
// after
const falProvider = createFal({ credentials: key });
const model = falProvider.transcription.model('whisper-large', { timeoutMs: 300_000 });
await model.doGenerate({ ... });

// before calling: estimate processing time from audio duration
const durationSeconds = getAudioDurationSeconds(audio);
const expectedTimeoutMs = Math.max(60_000, durationSeconds * 10_000);
if (expectedTimeoutMs > 60_000) configureModelWithHigherTimeout(expectedTimeoutMs);

function isTranscriptionTimeout(e: unknown): boolean {
  return AISDKError.isInstance(e) && e.name === 'TranscriptionRequestTimedOut';
}

try {
  return await transcriptionModel.doGenerate(options);
} catch (e) {
  if (AISDKError.isInstance(e) && e.name === 'TranscriptionRequestTimedOut') {
    return retryWithBackoff(() => transcriptionModel.doGenerate(options));
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `fal.transcription(...)` / `transcriptionModel.doGenerate` on a long audio file where fal's queue takes more than timeoutMs (default 60s) to finish processing; slow fal queue throughput for the chosen model.

Common situations: Transcribing long audio files (podcasts, hour-long recordings); transient fal.ai slowness or high queue load; large files uploaded without increasing the timeout option.

Understand the failure class

• Timeouts: ETIMEDOUT, deadlines, and hung requests — what actually expires when a request times out.

Related errors

• Video generation timed out after ${timeoutMs}ms.
• BLACK_FOREST_LABS_VIDEO_GENERATION_TIMEOUT
• FAL_VIDEO_GENERATION_ERROR
• claude-code bridge did not complete WebSocket handshake with
• TranscriptionJobSubmissionFailed

AI-assisted analysis of vercel/ai@69428b1f8b (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/76f440a31fe43f5e. Report an issue: GitHub.