# Cursor Docs AI Assistant Error "AI Gateway authentication failed: Invalid API key"

**URL:** <https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-docs-ai-assistant-error-ai-gateway-authentication-failed-invalid-api-key/167757>\
**Category:** Bug Reports\
**Tags:** docs\
**Created:** [August 8, 2026, 11:19am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-docs-ai-assistant-error-ai-gateway-authentication-failed-invalid-api-key/167757 "2026-08-08T11:19:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bifoc34610](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce7236/32.png) [@bifoc34610](https://forum.cursor.com/u/bifoc34610)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 11:19am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-docs-ai-assistant-error-ai-gateway-authentication-failed-invalid-api-key/167757/1 "2026-08-08T11:19:40Z")

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### Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Somewhere else…

### Describe the Bug

The following content was automatically generated by AI.

Issue Description:

When attempting to use the AI assistant on the Cursor documentation site, the request fails and returns an API authentication error.

Error Output:

JSON

{  
“type”: “error”,  
“errorText”: “AI Gateway authentication failed: Invalid API key.\n\nCreate a new API key: [Vercel](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%2Fapi-keys%5Cn%5CnProvide) via ‘apiKey’ option or ‘AI\_GATEWAY\_API\_KEY’ environment variable.”  
}

Analysis & Impact : It appears that the Vercel AI Gateway API key configured for the Cursor docs backend has expired, been revoked, or is missing the AI\_GATEWAY\_API\_KEY environment variable. This renders the documentation’s interactive AI assistant completely unusable for all visitors.

### Steps to Reproduce

Go to the Cursor official documentation page.

Open the AI Assistant / search feature and ask any question.

Observe the raw JSON error response in the network response / interface.

Expected Result : The AI assistant should respond with guidance based on the documentation, rather than returning a Vercel AI Gateway authentication error.

### Operating System

Other

### Version Information

chrome in http://

### Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![deanrie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/deanrie/32/1263_2.png) [@deanrie](https://forum.cursor.com/u/deanrie)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 1:30pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-docs-ai-assistant-error-ai-gateway-authentication-failed-invalid-api-key/167757/5 "2026-08-08T13:30:55Z")

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Hey, thanks for the report. This was a temporary auth issue on the docs site on August 7, which is exactly what you saw in the JSON response.

Since then, the AI assistant on the docs site has been removed, so this error shouldn’t happen anymore. Docs search is working normally.

If you run into anything else, let us know.

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**Author:** ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/system/32/99069_2.png) [@system](https://forum.cursor.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-docs-ai-assistant-error-ai-gateway-authentication-failed-invalid-api-key/167757/6 "2026-09-07T13:31:03Z")

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