Repository navigation
[Zen Free Tier] Free models connection frequently unstable (upstream failures/timeouts); request stable endpoints + more strong coding models #41236
Description
Problem
As a user of the OpenCode Zen free tier, I'm experiencing frequent, intermittent connection failures with the free models on a daily basis (Windows 11, Desktop v1.18.15 and recent CLI builds):
- Requests randomly fail with connection-related errors:
Upstream request failed, connection resets, TLS/handshake timeouts, and frequent network stalls that appear provider-side rather than local — the same requests succeed on retry seconds later, then fail again minutes later. - The failures are not model-specific: deepseek-v4-flash-free, longcat-2.0-free, nemotron-3-ultra-free, and others all exhibit the same flakiness pattern at different times of day. Retrying usually works, but mid-coding-session drops are disruptive.
- Errors appear both as visible
stream errornotices and silent stalls (no output for 60s+ until timeout), making work unreliable without a fallback.
(This complements but is separate from the existing reports: #37270 "model not supported on full model list", #38028 hy3-free/nemotron failing, #36506 paid models failing — my report here is specifically about connection stability for free models, not model-list metadata or paid tiers.)
Request
- Make the free-tier connection stable: add retry/backoff/reconnect at the gateway level, improve load balancing, and reduce connection drops for the
-freemodels (at least deepseek-v4-flash-free, currently the best free option for coding). - Provide a stable/fallback base URL for free models — e.g. a documented endpoint with better routing or automatic failover between entry points.
- Add more free models with strong coding abilities — the free catalog is heavily skewed toward chat/agentic-general models. Users would benefit from more free options strong at coding tasks (e.g. a free Sonnet-class/GPT-class code model, or a coding-strong reasoning model with long context). Currently the reliable free coding option is effectively one or two models, which makes the connection instability even more painful.
Environment
- OS: Windows 11 x64
- App: OpenCode Desktop 1.18.15 (also reproducible in CLI)
- Provider: OpenCode Zen free tier
- Models tested: deepseek-v4-flash-free, nemotron-3-ultra-free, longcat-2.0-free, others
Related
- facing issues in Free opencode models #37270, [BUG]: OpenCode Zen free models hy3-free and nemotron-3-ultra-free failing while deepseek-v4-flash-free works #38028, Streaming response failed Error Nemotron 3 Ultra Free (Opencode Zen Free) #40732 (free model failure reports), All paid OpenCode Zen models fail with 'Upstream request failed' — free models work #36506 (paid failures)
Metadata
Metadata
Assignees
Labels
No labels
Activity
liudongyan13701205717-source commentedon Aug 14, 2026
Still affected on a daily basis (Windows 11, latest Desktop). Just ran an independent connectivity check: the free endpoint is reachable (HTTP 200,
cost: 0) for models likehy3-free, but the free-tier models still exhibit the intermittent upstream failures / connection resets / TLS timeouts described here — the same request succeeds on retry seconds later and fails again minutes later, with both visiblestream errornotices and silent 60s+ stalls.@fwang is gateway-level retry/backoff + better load balancing for
-freemodels on the roadmap? Two concrete asks:-freemodels (at leastdeepseek-v4-flash-free).(Note: from a non-China network the endpoint is reachable, so my own connection flakiness is likely compounded by regional routing — but the free-tier upstream instability is reproducible regardless.) Happy to share timestamps/logs if useful.
liudongyan13701205717-source commentedon Aug 27, 2026
Still experiencing frequent upstream failures/timeouts on the Zen free tier as of late Aug. Would be great to get a sense of the roadmap for more stable endpoints and stronger coding models. Happy to share failure timestamps if that helps triage.
liudongyan13701205717-source commentedon Aug 29, 2026
Re-emphasizing this from a domestic (China) network vantage point: connecting to the models through OpenCode fails extremely often here — timeouts and upstream errors are the norm, not the exception, especially during peak hours. From behind the GFW the free-tier endpoints are effectively unusable much of the time, which makes OpenCode itself hard to rely on for daily coding work.
Strongly seconding the request for:
Happy to share timestamped failure logs (error types, inter-arrival times) if that helps triage the upstream instability. This is the single biggest blocker for China-based users.
thdxr commentedon Oct 11, 2026
Thanks for the report! OpenCode 2.0 is now out and development is focused on V2, so we're closing issues filed against OpenCode 1. Please upgrade (
opencode upgrade --major, details: https://anoma.ly/notes/opencode-2-0), and if this is still relevant on 2.0, reopen this issue or open a new one with your 2.0 version.— from 𝕺𝖕𝖊𝖓𝕮𝖔𝖉𝖊