Provider Fallback

Since 4.5, WP-AutoInsight can retry a failed generation on a second provider. You choose one fallback provider and model; the plugin uses it only when the primary fails for a reason that a different provider can actually fix.

Setting it up

1. Save keys for at least two text providers under Connections → API Keys.
2. Scroll to the card “If my primary provider fails, also try…” below the provider list.
3. Pick the fallback provider and one of its models, then Save Connection Settings.

The card only lists providers other than the one your current model belongs to, and only providers with a saved key. If just one provider has a key, the card explains what to add instead of showing empty dropdowns.

Tip

Suggested for you. When nothing is configured yet and two or more providers have keys, the card pre-selects the first non-primary provider with its default model. Nothing is active until you save.

What triggers a fallback

Primary failure	Falls back?	Why
Rate limit (HTTP 429)	Yes	Another provider has its own quota.
Server error (HTTP 5xx)	Yes	The outage is on the provider’s side.
Network error (server could not reach the provider)	Yes	A different endpoint may be reachable.
Rejected or missing API key	No	You need to fix the key; retrying elsewhere would hide the problem.
Prompt too long for the model	No	Reduce keywords or length instead.
Malformed or empty response	No	Usually a model or prompt issue, not an availability issue.

Before calling the fallback, the plugin also checks that the fallback provider has a key and that your prompt fits its model’s context window. If either check fails the fallback is skipped and the log says so.

Reading the log

Every fallback decision is written to the job in Content → Generation Log:

• OpenAI failed (rate limit) → completed via Claude — the post was finished on the fallback.
• Claude also failed (server error) — both failed; the job shows the primary’s error so you see the original cause.
• Claude skipped (no key) or Claude skipped (prompt too long) — the fallback was not attempted.

Fallback notes are tinted amber in the log so they stand out from repair notes.

What is not covered

• Images. Featured-image and infographic generation keep their own provider settings under Media. A text fallback never changes which image provider is used.
• More than one fallback. 4.5 offers a single secondary slot; that covers most real outages.
• Per-group fallback. The fallback is global. Per-group model overrides (see Content Settings) still use the same fallback when their model fails.

Note

Costs. A fallback call is billed by the fallback provider at that provider’s rates. The job log always shows which model actually wrote the post.