I am getting insufficient_quota codes when i try to connect, but the api has never been used

My server is written as follows, is there any flaws or issues anyone could help me spot, still a bit new to APIs. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

import express from ‘express’;
import cors from ‘cors’;
import dotenv from ‘dotenv’;
import { OpenAI } from ‘openai’;

dotenv.config();

console.log(‘OPENAI_API_KEY:’, process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY ? ‘[FOUND]’ : ‘[MISSING]’);

const app = express();
const PORT = 3001;

app.use(cors());
app.use(express.json());

// Initialize OpenAI client with your API key from .env
const openai = new OpenAI({
apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
});

app.get(‘/api/generate’, (req, res) => {
res.send(‘Please send a POST request with JSON { “prompt”: “your prompt here” } to generate text.’);
});

app.post(‘/api/generate’, async (req, res) => {
const { prompt } = req.body;

if (!prompt || prompt.trim() === ‘’) {
return res.status(400).json({ error: ‘Prompt is required.’ });
}

try {
const completion = await openai.chat.completions.create({
model: ‘gpt-3.5-turbo’,
messages: [{ role: ‘user’, content: prompt }],
});

const result = completion.choices[0].message.content;
res.json({ result });

} catch (error) {
console.error(‘OpenAI error:’, error);

// Handle specific errors gracefully
if (error.code === 'invalid_api_key') {
  return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Invalid API key. Please check your .env file.' });
}
if (error.code === 'insufficient_quota') {
  return res.status(429).json({ error: 'Quota exceeded. Please check your OpenAI account usage and billing.' });
}

res.status(500).json({ error: 'Failed to generate text.' });

}
});

app.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(Server listening on http://localhost:${PORT});
});

Start here, the “playground”, and say hello to an AI:

https://platform.openai.com/playground/prompts?models=gpt-4o-mini

Does it say payment information needed, that you need to set up an account “start building” … thus implying you need to first add billing information and making a prepayment?

Your current credit balance to pay for API services:

https://platform.openai.com/settings/organization/billing/overview