# ModelTimeoutError
```python
model = init_chat_model("openai:gpt-5.5", timeout=120)
```
## Rules
- Reasoning models and long generations need generous timeouts. A timeout tuned for a chat reply will constantly fire on a thinking model.
- The error is retryable, so the default retry loop will re-fire the same too-short timeout. Fix the timeout value, not the retry count.
- If timeouts cluster on one provider or region, check the provider status before blaming your code.
- For agents, set the timeout on the model instance you pass to create_agent; the agent uses that instance for every model call.