Claude not working? Find your error message and the fix
Claude not working or not responding? Check status.claude.com first, then match the exact message on your screen to its meaning and fix in one table.
If Claude is not working, open status.claude.com first. A red or orange line next to claude.ai, Claude Code or Cowork means Anthropic already knows, and the fix is to wait. If everything reads "Operational", find the exact message on your screen in the table below. Each one has a different cause, and most take under a minute to fix.
claude-for is an independent guide, not affiliated with Anthropic. Every message below was checked against Anthropic's help center, its API docs, the status page or public bug reports on October 22, 2026.
TL;DR: Status page first. Then read the message word for word: a "limit" message is about your plan or one reply, a "connect" or "network" message is usually your VPN, extensions or app version, and "capacity" or "overloaded" means Claude is busy for everyone and a retry in a few minutes is the fix.
Find your message
Match the wording, not the feeling. "Claude stopped" can mean five unrelated things, and the fix for one does nothing for the others.
| Message on screen | What it means | Fastest fix | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Claude reached its tool-use limit for this turn" | One reply used up its tool calls. Not your usage limit. | Click Continue | Tool-use limit |
| "This response paused because Claude reached its max length for a message." | One reply got too long to finish | Click Continue, or ask for sections | Max length pause |
| "Your message will exceed the length limit for this chat." | The chat no longer fits Claude's context window | Get a summary, start a new chat | Prompt is too long |
| "Compacting our conversation so we can keep chatting" | Claude is summarizing older messages in a long chat | Let it finish, restate key rules | Compacting |
| "We couldn't connect to Claude. Please check your network connection and try again." | The app never reached Anthropic's servers | Status page, then VPN and extensions | Couldn't connect |
| "Temporarily unable to authenticate. Please retry." | Usually a server-side incident, not your password | Wait and retry, stay signed in | Couldn't connect |
| "Upload failed due to a network issue." | Your file never finished uploading | Check file limits, VPN, retry | Upload failed |
| "Desktop appears offline. Will run when it reconnects." | Dispatch can't reach Claude Desktop on your computer | Wake the computer, open Claude Desktop | Dispatch not working |
| "Taking longer than usual. Trying again shortly (attempt 2 of 10)." | Claude is retrying a request by itself, usually on busy servers | Let a few attempts run, then check status | Taking longer than usual |
| "Claude's response could not be fully generated", "Claude's response was interrupted", or a reply that stops mid-sentence | The reply was cut off before it finished, often by a network drop or an incident | Retry or ask Claude to continue | Response incomplete |
| "Claude is responding in the background" or "Claude is still creating a response in the background" | The reply is still running on Anthropic's side, but your screen lost the stream | Wait a minute, reload the same chat, don't resend | Responding in the background |
| "You've used 90% of your session limit" | Warning: your 5-hour session is nearly spent | Finish the important task first | 90% of session limit |
| "5-hour limit reached - resets [time]" or "You've reached your weekly limit. It resets [day] at [time]." | Your plan's usage limit is spent | Wait for the reset, or use usage credits | Usage limits |
| "Due to unexpected capacity constraints, Claude is unable to respond to your message. Please try again soon." | High demand across all users | Retry in a few minutes | Section below |
Claude Code: 529 overloaded_error, message "Overloaded" | The API is temporarily overloaded | Wait, let retries back off | Overloaded retry delay |
| "There was an error logging you in" | A generic sign-in failure | VPN off, extensions off, clear cookies | Section below |
The limit wordings, the length error, the capacity message and the login error all come from Anthropic's Troubleshoot Claude error messages article. The others are quoted in the linked guides, each with its source.
Overloaded, at capacity, "server busy"
People search for "Claude server is busy" or "Claude overloaded", but in the chat app the message Anthropic documents is this one: "Due to unexpected capacity constraints, Claude is unable to respond to your message. Please try again soon." It means demand is high across all users at that moment.
Anthropic is clear that this is not an outage. Its error-message article says capacity issues "are not outages", that they "typically resolve as demand patterns shift throughout the day", and that they will not appear on the status page. So a green status page and a capacity error can both be true. Wait a few minutes and send again.
In Claude Code and in apps built on the API, the same situation shows up as an HTTP 529. Anthropic's API errors page defines 529 overloaded_error as "The API is temporarily overloaded" and says it "can occur when the API experiences high traffic across all users." A user report in GitHub issue #35704 quotes the full line Claude Code printed during a March 2026 incident:
529 {"type":"error","error":{"type":"overloaded_error","message":"Overloaded"}}
Do not confuse 529 with 429. A 429 rate_limit_error means your own organization hit a limit, so waiting a few minutes may not help. A 529 is everyone's problem. Claude Code retries 529s by itself, and our overloaded retry delay guide shows how to make it wait longer between tries.
Not responding, or a blank reply
Sometimes there is no message at all. You send, the dots spin, and nothing comes back, or Claude returns an empty bubble. Anthropic has no help article for this exact symptom, so the order below is a practical sequence built from its documented causes rather than an official checklist.
Check status.claude.com
Elevated errors and degraded performance show up there first. The status page lists claude.ai, Claude Code, Claude Cowork and the API separately.
Wait one minute, then reload
A reply may still be generating. Reloading the page shows what actually arrived before you resend anything.
Send the message again
If the last reply is empty or cut off, ask Claude to continue, or edit your message and resend it.
Start a new chat if this one is long
Very long chats hit length limits and compaction. A fresh chat with a short summary often responds at once.
Try another surface
If the desktop app hangs, open claude.ai in a browser, or the reverse. Your chats are the same in both.
If a reply hangs in one chat but new chats work, the problem is that conversation, not your account. Our guides on prompt is too long and compacting cover why long chats stall.
Claude won't load
A blank page, an endless spinner or a page that never finishes loading is usually local. Anthropic's troubleshooting list for sign-in errors is the closest official recipe, and it works for loading problems too: turn off your VPN, disable browser extensions, then clear your browser's cache and cookies. A private window is a quick way to test without extensions.
For Claude Desktop, update the app: click Claude in the menu bar, then Check for updates. If the browser works and the app does not, the app or its network handling is at fault, and our couldn't connect guide has the full split test. Claude is also only offered in supported regions, which matters when you travel.
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Login loops
Email sign-in works by link. Per Anthropic's log in article, the email has the subject "Secure link to log in to Claude.ai". Click it on the same device you requested it from and you are signed in. Click it on another device, such as your phone, and it shows a verification code instead, which you type on the original device.
That second case is the classic loop: you keep clicking the link on your phone and the computer never signs in. Use the code. If no email arrives, Anthropic says to check spam and quarantine for mail from @mail.anthropic.com, allow that domain, and retry after a few minutes. Work and school addresses may need IT to loosen email filters.
Some loops are bugs. A May 2026 report, GitHub issue #59803, describes the desktop app failing with "We were unable to verify you with this link" on both Google and email sign-in, while the browser worked. That is one user's report. Signing in through the browser is the fallback while you wait for an app update.
Account problems
If you can sign in but see a restriction screen, the account itself is the issue, not your connection. Anthropic's account restrictions article lists the reasons it may ban an account: repeated Usage Policy violations, creating the account from an unsupported location, and Terms of Service violations.
To appeal, sign in to claude.ai with the banned account and use the appeal form; Anthropic notes you must be logged in to reach it. Free, Pro and Max users can still export their data or delete the account from the same screen. If only an organization you belong to is on hold, click Request a review next to it.
For anything else on your account, such as billing, a plan that did not apply or a missing feature, click your name in the lower left of claude.ai, then Get help, per Anthropic's How to get support. Support is written only. There is no phone line.
When it's Anthropic, not you
The status page lists six components: claude.ai, Claude Console (platform.claude.com), Claude API (api.anthropic.com), Claude Code, Claude Cowork and Claude for Government. Each shows one of five states: Operational, Degraded Performance, Partial Outage, Major Outage or Maintenance. Check the row for the product you use, since an API incident may not touch the chat app.
Below the components, Past Incidents shows what happened recently, with timestamped updates moving from Investigating to Monitoring to Resolved. On October 22, 2026, for example, it listed "Elevated errors affecting Connectors" for claude.ai and Cowork, resolved that morning. If your problem started around the same time as an open incident, you have your answer.
To stop checking by hand, click Subscribe to Updates at the top of the page. You can get incident alerts by email, text message, Slack, Microsoft Teams, a webhook, or the Atom and RSS feeds. Email covers incidents being created, updated and resolved; the text message option sends creation and resolution only.
The honest limits
Anthropic documents only some of these messages. The capacity, usage, length and login wordings are on its help center; "Couldn't connect", "Temporarily unable to authenticate" and the Claude Code 529 line come from user reports. The not-responding steps above are a sensible order, not an Anthropic checklist, and we have not reproduced every error ourselves.
Wording also changes. Anthropic edits these messages without notice, so if yours is close to a row above but not identical, read the closest guide and compare. If nothing here matches and nothing works after an hour, contact support with the exact text and a screenshot.
Questions people ask
Why is Claude not working?
Usually one of three things: an Anthropic incident (check status.claude.com), high demand (the "capacity constraints" message, which clears in minutes), or something local such as a VPN, a browser extension or an outdated app. Match your exact on-screen message in the table above to tell which.
Is Claude down right now?
Open status.claude.com. It shows claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork, the Console and the API separately, with any open incident at the top. If everything reads Operational and you see "capacity constraints", Claude is busy rather than down: retry in a few minutes.
Why is Claude not responding to my messages?
Check the status page, wait a minute, then reload to see whether the reply arrived. If it is empty or cut off, ask Claude to continue or resend. In a very long chat, start a new one with a short summary, because long chats run into length limits.
What does "Claude overloaded" or "server overloaded" mean?
Claude's servers are getting more requests than they can handle at that moment. In the app it reads "Due to unexpected capacity constraints, Claude is unable to respond to your message." In Claude Code and the API it is error 529, overloaded_error. Both affect everyone and clear on their own.
Why does Claude say the server is busy?
"Server is busy" is how people describe it, but Claude's documented wording is the capacity constraints message. Anthropic says it reflects high demand across all users, not an outage, and does not appear on the status page. Wait a few minutes and send the same message again.
If you want a short note when Anthropic changes a limit or a message that trips people up, the newsletter sends one only when it matters.