OpenAI-Compatible Base URL Troubleshooting: 7 Checks Before You Blame the SDK

An OpenAI-compatible base URL is supposed to make model switching boring: change the endpoint, keep the SDK, and move on. In real projects, the first run often fails with a 401, 404, 429, or a model-not-found error. Here is the checklist I use before blaming the SDK. 1. Confirm the base URL includes the right API prefix Most OpenAI-compatible gateways expect a /v1 prefix: from openai import OpenAI client = OpenAI( api_key="YOUR_RELAY_KEY", base_url="https://api.wappkit.c...