Intermittent 401 scope errors on key with "All" permissions — spikes randomly, no config changes

API Bugs
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1

We’ve been running a production application on the Assistants API for several months with no issues. Starting recently, we’re seeing intermittent spikes of 401 errors with the following message:

Error code: 401 - {‘error’: {‘message’: “You have insufficient permissions for this operation.
Missing scopes: api.threads.read.”, ‘type’: ‘invalid_request_error’, ‘param’: None, ‘code’: None}}

What makes this strange:

  • The API key shows “All” permissions in the OpenAI platform UI

  • The key has been working correctly for months

  • No changes were made to the key, the project, or any account settings

  • The errors are intermittent — the app runs fine most of the time, then spikes (e.g. thousands of errors in a short window around 10:00 AM UTC today, April 11 2026)

  • After the spike, it sometimes recovers on its own

Setup:

  • Python openai SDK version 1.35.7

  • Affected endpoints: beta.threads.runs.list, beta.threads.messages.create, beta.threads.runs.stream

What we’ve tried:

  • Verified the key shows “All” permissions in the UI

  • Created new API Keys

  • Confirmed only one key is in use (logging last-4 of the key on every request)

Question: Is this a known platform-side issue where project-level keys intermittently lose their granted scopes? We saw a similar incident reported by other users in August 2025.

2

Same issue, no code change, no key change, 401 error start happening when the key has ALL permissions

I tried the same things as the original post.

3

Hi and welcome to the community!

Thanks for raising this!
I have pinged the team to take a look.

4

Hi,

I have actually found my issue on my side, an uncatched exception in an asyncio task did actually create a corrupted client which then made the 401 Error

5

Hi, thank you for checking this. Please keep us posted on any updates, and let us know if you need any additional information on the issue.

6

same here.

getting random:

{“error”=>
{“message”=>
“You have insufficient permissions for this operation. Missing scopes: api.threads.read. Check that you have the correct role in your organization (Reader, Writer, Owner) and project (Viewer, Member, Owner), and if you’re using a restricted API key, that it has the necessary scopes.”,
“type”=>“invalid_request_error”,
“param”=>nil,
“code”=>nil}}
api key (user api key) have all permission and the error is intermittent

7

Getting the same thing. It started last night then cleared up. Now it is back around 3:30PM EST

8

Same error. Not working Assistant APIs with de same error :frowning:

9

I’m experiencing the same issue. My API key is set with “All” permissions, but I’m still getting 401 errors like:

  • Missing scopes: api.threads.read

  • Missing scopes: model.request

This was working perfectly before and nothing changed on my side (same project, same key).

10

Same issue here. Worked for the past 6 months, now I am getting 401 spikes all of the sudden.

11

it worked for almost an hour and now is failling again. Totally random.

12

Hi. Any updates of this ? Please keep us posted.

13

Sorry, no updates yet.
Will keep you posted.

14

Same issue here, starting last night and happening again today. Created a new api key, it worked for a few minutes on the new api key, then started failing again.

Same api scope issues like:

“401 You have insufficient permissions for this operation. Missing scopes: api.batch.write. Check that you have the correct role in your organization (Reader, Writer, Owner) and project (Member, Owner), and if you’re using a restricted API key, that it has the necessary scopes.”

15

Thanks for your help! Quick question why this is not tracked in the status page too as it has been up for almost 24h and it is a critical issue impacting many users in prod?

17

Same here:

“Missing scopes: api.files.write. Check that you have the correct role in your organization (Reader, Writer, Owner) and project (Member, Owner), and if you’re using a restricted
▎ API key, that it has the necessary scopes.”

18

SAME ERROR: You have insufficient permissions for this operation. Missing scopes: api.batch.read. Check that you have the correct role in your organization (Reader, Writer, Owner) and project (Viewer, Member, Owner), and if you’re using a restricted API key, that it has the necessary scopes.
Permissions ALL

19

same error::smiling_face_with_tear:
{‘error’: {‘message’: “You have insufficient permissions for this operation. Missing scopes: vector_store.write. Check that you have the correct role in your organization (Reader, Writer, Owner) and project (Member, Owner), and if you’re using a restricted API key, that it has the necessary scopes.”, ‘type’: ‘invalid_request_error’, ‘param’: None, ‘code’: None}}

20

Same error. Was intermittent last night then hit again around 2:20am CT this morning, 4/12.

21

I am having the same issue when trying to perform vector store searches:

AuthenticationError: Error code: 401 - {‘error’: {‘message’:
“You have insufficient permissions for this operation.
Missing scopes: vector_store.read. Check that you have the
correct role in your organization (Reader, Writer, Owner)
and project (Member, Owner), and if you’re using a
restricted API key, that it has the necessary scopes.”,
‘type’: ‘invalid_request_error’, ‘param’: None, ‘code’:
None}}

My API key have all permissions applied.