403 INSUFFICIENT_PERMISSIONS on prerecorded /v1/listen with Nova 3 — Playground works, API says “Project does not have access to the requested model”

[0xddy]

Category: General help

Summary

When calling the pre-recorded Speech-to-Text API (POST https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen) from our backend using the official Java SDK (deepgram-java-sdk 0.3.0), we consistently receive HTTP 403 with:

• err_code: INSUFFICIENT_PERMISSIONS
• err_msg: Project does not have access to the requested model.

The same Deepgram account can use Nova 3 successfully in the official web UI / Playground, so we’re trying to understand whether this is an entitlement / project scoping issue for API keys, or a model string / query parameter mismatch between the dashboard and the SDK-generated request.

Environment

• SDK: com.deepgram:deepgram-java-sdk 0.3.0
• Endpoint: POST /v1/listen (JSON body with remote audio URL)
• Observed query string (from OkHttp logs):
  model=NOVA3 (all caps; note documentation typically shows nova-3 / nova-3-general)

Request (sanitized)

[deepgram-community[bot]]

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[deepgram-community[bot]]

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[deepgram-community[bot]]

It looks like we're missing some important information to help debug your issue. Would you mind providing us with the following details in a reply?

• A request ID that triggered your error or issue.

[0xddy]

2026-05-01 21:55:31.833 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - --> POST https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?detect_language=false&diarize=false&language=en&model=NOVA3&multichannel=false&punctuate=true&smart_format=true&utterances=true
2026-05-01 21:55:31.833 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - Content-Length: 48
2026-05-01 21:55:31.833 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - Authorization: ██
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - User-Agent: com.deepgram:deepgram-java-sdk/0.3.0
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - X-Fern-Language: JAVA
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - x-deepgram-session-id: 656c400d-c558-4cad-851e-1649dbd5a9b4
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - X-Fern-SDK-Name: com.deepgram:deepgram-java-sdk
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - X-Fern-SDK-Version: 0.3.0
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - Content-Type: application/json
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - Accept: application/json
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - 
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - {"url":"http://95.217.187.39/test/20260423.m4a"}
2026-05-01 21:55:31.834 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - --> END POST (48-byte body)
2026-05-01 21:55:32.829 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - <-- 403 https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?detect_language=false&diarize=false&language=en&model=NOVA3&multichannel=false&punctuate=true&smart_format=true&utterances=true (995ms)
2026-05-01 21:55:32.829 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - content-type: application/json
2026-05-01 21:55:32.829 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - dg-error: Project does not have access to the requested model.
2026-05-01 21:55:32.829 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - vary: origin, access-control-request-method, access-control-request-headers
2026-05-01 21:55:32.829 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - vary: accept-encoding
2026-05-01 21:55:32.829 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - access-control-allow-credentials: true
2026-05-01 21:55:32.829 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - access-control-expose-headers: dg-model-name,dg-model-uuid,dg-additional-model-uuids,dg-char-count,dg-request-id,dg-project-id,dg-error,dg-breaks-applied,dg-pronunciations-applied,dg-pronunciation-warnings
2026-05-01 21:55:32.830 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - dg-request-id: 019de3d2-cce4-7e60-9b43-67e122c235b6
2026-05-01 21:55:32.830 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - date: Fri, 01 May 2026 13:55:36 GMT
2026-05-01 21:55:32.830 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - 
2026-05-01 21:55:32.830 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - {"err_code":"INSUFFICIENT_PERMISSIONS","err_msg":"Project does not have access to the requested model.","request_id":"019de3d2-cce4-7e60-9b43-67e122c235b6"}
2026-05-01 21:55:32.830 [DefaultDispatcher-worker-5] DEBUG com.deepgram.okhttp - <-- END HTTP (156-byte body)

request_id : 019de3d2-cce4-7e60-9b43-67e122c235b6