Table of Contents
Quick Answer
If Claude is not responding, check status.anthropic.com first, then clear browser cache and disable extensions. Most Claude issues are transient and resolve in under 5 minutes.
- Check Anthropic status page for outages
- Hard refresh (
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R) - Disable extensions that block streaming (ad blockers, privacy tools)
Why This Happens
Claude runs on Anthropic's cloud. Problems typically come from server load spikes, browser auth token expiry, corporate firewalls blocking streaming endpoints, long conversations hitting context limits silently, or browser extensions breaking Server-Sent Events (SSE).
Step-by-Step Fixes
Step 1: Check status
Visit status.anthropic.com. Look for "Operational" across Claude.ai, API, Console. Any yellow/red = wait it out.
Step 2: Hard refresh
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + R to force reload without cache.
Step 3: Start a fresh conversation
Long chats that hit the 200K token limit stall silently. Click New chat. If new chats work, the old one was too long.
Step 4: Clear Claude site data
Chrome: chrome://settings/cookies/detail?site=claude.ai → Remove all. Log in again.
Step 5: Turn off extensions
uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, Kaspersky, and corporate DLP extensions break Claude's streaming. Incognito mode disables them for testing.
Step 6: Check for "Conversation too long"
Claude silently truncates or stops at context limit. Error appears as hang or "I encountered an error". Start new chat or delete old messages.
Step 7: Disable VPN
Some VPN IPs are rate-limited by Anthropic. Disconnect and retry.
Step 8: Update browser
Outdated Chrome (<v110) or Safari (<v16) has WebSocket/SSE bugs. Update to latest.
Step 9: Check API key (if using API)
If getting 401 Unauthorized, regenerate the key at console.anthropic.com → Settings → API Keys.
Step 10: Check billing
Settings → Billing. Expired cards cause silent API rejections with insufficient_quota.
When to Contact Support
- Error persists across 3+ browsers after 1 hour
- API returns
500 Internal Server Errorrepeatedly with same request - Billing was charged but Pro features don't activate
- Your account shows "Suspended" status
Email: [email protected] — include request IDs from error responses.
Prevention Tips
- Use Projects in Claude to keep conversations scoped
- Start new chats when old ones exceed ~50K tokens (response slows)
- Bookmark status.anthropic.com
- Don't use third-party "Claude enhancers" — most violate ToS
Conclusion
Most Claude issues resolve in minutes with status checks and cache clearing. For resilience, use a multi-model gateway like Assisters AI that routes between providers when one fails.