What does “via reserve model” on a bot reply mean?
Below every reply from your AI bot, the inbox shows which model wrote it, for example IONOS · Mistral-Small-24B-Instruct. If the yellow label via reserve model appears next to it, the reply did not come from the configured model but from a stand-in.
Why there are reserve models
Even at a large provider, a single model is sometimes at capacity for a few minutes. Your visitor used to get no answer in that case, and the conversation went straight to your team. Now a reserve model steps in, and your visitor notices nothing.
When a reserve model steps in
Only before your visitor has seen anything, and only for these reasons:
| Tooltip says | Meaning |
|---|---|
| provider overloaded | the model had no free capacity (HTTP 502, 503 or 504, even after two retries) |
| rate limit reached | too many requests to this model (HTTP 429) |
| model no longer available | the provider switched the model off |
| no connection / timed out | the model could not be reached |
| no answer within 10 s | no sign of life for 10 seconds |
| empty answer | the model replied, but without text |
Hover over the label to see which model failed and why, e.g. Mistral-Small-24B-Instruct was unavailable: provider overloaded (503).
What stays the same
- Only one model ever answers. Models are asked one after the other, never at the same time. As soon as one answers, it stops there.
- Your settings still apply: instructions, knowledge base, tone and handoff rules.
- All models run at IONOS in Germany, just like the configured one. No additional processor is involved.
- Your visitor sees no error. The label is shown only to your team in the inbox, not in the widget.
When the chat is still handed over
If the reserve models fail as well, the bot hands over to your team as before. The handoff line then shows the reason ai_error, see Handoff rules.
Do I need to set anything up?
No. We decide which models stand by as reserves.
The test run in your AI settings deliberately asks only your configured model. That way it shows whether exactly this model works — a reserve model would otherwise hide an outage.
If the label keeps showing up for several hours, feel free to write to us. Usually it is a short disruption at the provider that resolves itself.