# API error 500

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/401118
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** rest-api, ai
**Created:** [April 21, 2026, 10:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/401118 "2026-04-21T10:13:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![shixiaochi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@shixiaochi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/shixiaochi)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2026, 10:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/401118/1 "2026-04-21T10:13:52Z")

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What are the common causes of a 500 error for the /discourse-ai/embeddings/semantic-search endpoint?

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### Author: ![Lilly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/lilly/32/575047_2.png) [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2026, 11:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/401118/2 "2026-04-21T11:54:33Z")

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i wonder if it’s this?

> [@All AI functions are working ok, but AI search gives 500 error](https://meta.discourse.org/t/all-ai-functions-are-working-ok-but-ai-search-gives-500-error/351888/5):
>
> cd /var/discourse ./launcher enter app rails c SiteSetting.ai\_embeddings\_semantic\_quick\_search\_enabled = false exit exit It was a public setting at one point, but it moved to hidden.

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### Author: ![supermathie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/supermathie/32/507518_2.png) [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2026, 4:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/401118/3 "2026-04-21T16:27:59Z")

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We can guess, but the best approach is to check logs.

That’s both rails logs and the `/logs` path on your Discourse instance, only visible to admins.