Chapter 11 code quiz fails due to api-inference.huggingface.co DNS resolution error

Course
1

Hi Hugging Face team,

I’m currently taking the Hugging Face LLM Course (Chapter 11) and I’m unable to complete the code quiz.

Every time I submit my solution, it fails with the following error:

MaxRetryError: HTTPSConnectionPool(host=‘api-inference.huggingface.co’, port=443): Failed to resolve ‘api-inference.huggingface.co’

The website itself loads correctly, but the code checker cannot reach the inference API, so my solutions are marked as incorrect.

I have already tried:

  • Different browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave)
  • Airtel mobile hotspot
  • Cloudflare WARP
  • Google DNS (8.8.8.8)
  • Flushing DNS cache
  • Restarting my laptop

The issue still persists.

Could you please check if this is a problem with the course infrastructure or the API endpoint?

Hugging Face username: abhijeet0408

Thank you.

2

Well. Simply put, this is an issue on the official Space side:

I was able to reproduce the failure with the current grader code. The failing request is made by the Space backend—not by your browser—and it is still targeting the legacy api-inference.huggingface.co route. Current Hugging Face inference uses the Inference Providers routing system instead.

There is also a problem with the current fallback: when the model call fails, the grader compares the formatted submission and reference solution as strings. This means a functionally correct alternative solution can be reported as incorrect during an infrastructure failure.

I opened Space PR #10 to update the routing and prevent an unavailable grader from recording an incorrect answer. The same failure is also tracked in course issue #1270.

The PR has not been merged yet, so the official quiz may continue failing until the Space is updated and rebuilt. I do not think further browser, DNS, or network changes on your side will help at this point.

3

Hi @John6666 "Thanks for the detailed diagnosis — still hitting this today as well (attempt on 25-07-2026, Request ID:

  1. f512da3b-be8c-496c-988b-75e824bfc2e2
  2. b9441f52-d807-487e-94ca-fda1effa63cb).
  3. 19d3a616-3056-45ec-9195-a91330c3886d Would be great if the PR could get merged soon since it’s currently blocking anyone from passing Chapter 11’s quiz. Posted in the community: Grading fails with NameResolutionError to api-inference.huggingface.co — all correct answers marked wrong

Thanks

Rajeshkumar

4

Oh. I submitted a PR, but since the changes won’t take effect until HF actually merges it, I guess it’s still broken…:sweat_smile: