LearnGrokModel identifiers are opaque strings, and the API cannot tell the difference between a typo, a retired model and a model your account cannot reach. Check in this order.
1. Compare against the current list
Open docs.x.ai models and compare your string character by character, including any suffix. Model names change more often than any other part of an integration, and a name that worked last quarter may simply no longer exist.
Do not ask Grok what models exist. It does not reliably know its own current lineup, for the same reason it does not know today's date.
2. Check where the string comes from
If the model name is hard-coded in more than one place, the one you are reading may not be the one being sent. Log the model name at the point of the request, not from configuration, so you see exactly what went out.
3. Check whether it is a naming collision
Suffixed variants exist for many families: different sizes, faster variants, snapshot-pinned names. Sending a family name where a specific identifier is required, or vice versa, produces this error even though the name looks right.
4. Check your account's access
Some models are limited to particular tiers, regions or programmes. The same string can resolve for one account and 404 for another, which makes "it works on my machine" especially misleading here. Confirm in the console which models your team can call.
5. Check you are calling the right host
Pointing an SDK at the wrong provider's base URL while sending an xAI model name produces a model-not-found rather than an authentication error, because the credential may be valid for that other provider. Verify base URL and model name belong to the same vendor.
Preventing the next one
Read the model name from a single configuration value, log it with every response, and subscribe to the release notes. A rename that is announced in advance only helps if someone reads the announcement.
What changes
The entire model lineup. Any list of names on a third-party page, including any example you may find elsewhere on this site, should be treated as illustrative. The docs are the list.
