Server hangs and has to be hard reset when using incorrect API key

[T3rm1]

What happened?

Load was so high on the server that it could only be restarted.

Version Information

a79f7ce

Steps to Reproduce

Start the server with the configuration from .env.example. Select a OpenAI model and enter an incorrect API key such as "abc". Send a message and notice the cpu load go up.

Edit: Found another way to crash the server. I have set up LibreChat with only api and rag_api services. I configured MongoDB Atlas for vector and config storage. This works. When I call the create user script from inside the api container, it fails to connect. There is no timeout or any output from the script. It just creates so much load on the server that nothing is working any more. Luckily I was able to cancel this in time so I didn't have to reset the server.

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

Chrome

Relevant log output

-

Screenshots

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[danny-avila]

Thanks for reporting this. What are the resource specs for your server (CPU/RAM)? The behavior you're describing, particularly with the create user script, sounds like it's hanging on a failed connection rather than actually generating high CPU load. Without a timeout on the connection attempt, it can appear to lock things up, especially on lower-resource environments. Can you share the actual CPU/memory usage during the issue?

[T3rm1]

I opened a second ssh session and monitored cpu and memory. The load was at 126.

Why is this a discussion now? Don't you consider such a behavior as a bug? It's a 2 Core, 2 GB dedicated RAM vServer.

Without a timeout on the connection attempt

LibreChat/config/connect.js

Lines 16 to 26 in 2ac62a2

	let timeout = setTimeout(() => {
	console.orange(
	'This is taking a while... You may need to check your connection if this fails.',
	);
	timeout = setTimeout(() => {
	console.orange('Still going... Might as well assume the connection failed...');
	timeout = setTimeout(() => {
	console.orange('Error incoming in 3... 2... 1...');
	}, 13000);
	}, 10000);
	}, 5000);

I don't even get any of these messages. As mentioned, the setup is fine. The connection works. I can see the collections in the database. Just not when calling the create-user script directly. So this is another bug.

[danny-avila]

Not a bug as it's not reproducible with a valid connection.

danny:~/LibreChat$ npm run create-user

> LibreChat@v0.8.3-rc2 create-user
> node config/create-user.js

Warming up the engines...
2026-03-07 13:36:41 info: Mongo Connection options
2026-03-07 13:36:41 info: {
  "bufferCommands": false
}
2026-03-07 13:36:41 error: [mongoMeili] Error checking index convos: fetch failed
2026-03-07 13:36:41 error: [mongoMeili] Error checking index messages: fetch failed
2026-03-07 13:36:41 info: ioredis client connected
2026-03-07 13:36:41 error: [mongoMeili] Error updating index settings for convos: fetch failed
2026-03-07 13:36:41 error: [mongoMeili] Error updating index settings for messages: fetch failed
2026-03-07 13:36:41 info: ioredis client ready
--------------------------
Create a new user account!
--------------------------
Usage: npm run create-user -- <email> <name> <username> [--email-verified=false]
Note: if you do not pass in the arguments, you will be prompted for them.
If you really need to pass in the password, you can do so as the 4th argument (not recommended for security).
Use --email-verified=false to set emailVerified to false. Default is true.
--------------------------
Email:
> createuser@script.com
Name: (default is: createuser)
> 
Username: (default is: createuser)
> 
Password: (leave blank, to generate one)
> 
Your password is: 0.98qr15dvysa
Email verified? (Y/n, default is Y):

If `y`, the user's email will be considered verified.
      
If `n`, and email service is configured, the user will be sent a verification email.

If `n`, and email service is not configured, you must have the `ALLOW_UNVERIFIED_EMAIL_LOGIN` .env variable set to true,
or the user will need to attempt logging in to have a verification link sent to them.
> y
2026-03-07 13:36:54 info: [getAppConfig] App configuration not initialized. Initializing AppService...
2026-03-07 13:36:54 error: Config file YAML format is invalid: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/danny/LibreChat/librechat.yaml'
User created successfully!
Email verified: true
danny:~/LibreChat$