How I Fixed OpenAI Assistants API Timeout Errors in Production

A developer fixed timeout errors in the OpenAI Assistants API by making the timeout configurable. The hardcoded 60-second limit was too short for long sessions, causing premature failures. The solution involved increasing the timeout to 150 seconds and updating the polling loop.

It was during a live client demo. The AI was mid-session. The user was answering questions. Everything was going perfectly. Then — this: "Sorry, there was an error processing your request. Please try again." The client looked at us. My manager looked at me. I looked at my laptop and wanted to disappear. First thing I checked: OpenAI dashboard. No failed runs. Nothing. I checked our server logs. There it was: run timeout — after exactly 60 seconds But here's the thing — the run wasn't failing. It was just slow. OpenAI was still processing. Our backend gave up at 60s. OpenAI finished at 87s. We quit too early. The longer a session gets, the more history OpenAI has to process. Early in a session: 3–5 seconds. Mid-session 10+ messages : 30–50 seconds. Long sessions: 60–90+ seconds. Our hardcoded limit of 60 seconds wasn't matching reality. Step 1: Made the timeout configurable via environment variable. .env OPENAI RUN TIMEOUT MS=150000 Step 2: Updated the polling loop to use it. js const TIMEOUT MS = parseInt process.env.OPENAI RUN TIMEOUT MS || 150000; const TERMINAL = 'completed', 'failed', 'cancelled', 'expired', 'requires action' ; while TERMINAL.includes runStatus.status { if Date.now - startTime = TIMEOUT MS throw new Error 'run timeout' ; await new Promise r = setTimeout r, 1000 ; runStatus = await openai.beta.threads.runs.retrieve threadId, run.id ; } Step 3: Deployed. No more errors. I'm exploring runs.stream — streaming responses in real time, no polling, no timeouts. Will write a follow-up once it's in production. Have you hit this before? How did you handle it? Drop it in the comments.