Fixing nginx 504 Gateway Timeout: proxy_read_timeout and Upstream Timeouts

nginx 504 Gateway Timeout Fix Guide: From proxy_read_timeout to Upstream Timeouts

The deploy went fine, but as soon as you hit a heavy report API or an LLM response call, a 504 Gateway Timeout appears at exactly 30 or 60 seconds. Sound familiar? A 504 means nginx forwarded the request to the upstream (app server) just fine, then cut the connection because no response came back in time. The key point: this is a timeout problem, not a connection failure.

This post walks through diagnosing where the 504 is happening, fixing it by pasting timeout directives in the right place, and aligning timeouts in multi-hop setups such as ALB, nginx, and gunicorn.

First, Tell 504 and 502 Apart Correctly

504 and 502 look similar on the surface but have completely different causes. One-line summary: 504 = the upstream is alive but did not respond in time; 502 = the upstream is dead or the response is broken.

If you suspect a 502, the cause is different—see the [nginx 502 Bad Gateway troubleshooting guide]. This post focuses on timeouts.

Diagnose by Location: Client → nginx → Upstream

Do not blindly raise proxy_read_timeout. First figure out where the connection was cut.

Step 1 — Measure wait time from the client

curl -w "@-" -o /dev/null -s https://example.com/slow-api <<'EOF'
  time_connect:  %{time_connect}s
  time_starttransfer:  %{time_starttransfer}s
  time_total:  %{time_total}s
EOF

If time_total cuts off at exactly 60 seconds (or 30 seconds), a timeout is almost certain.

Step 2 — Check nginx error.log

tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

If you see upstream timed out ... while reading response header from upstream, you hit nginx's read timeout.

Step 3 — Call the upstream directly

curl -w "%{time_total}\n" -o /dev/null -s http://localhost:8000/slow-api

If it is still slow or gets cut off here, the culprit is the upstream (app server), not nginx. Raising nginx timeouts alone will not help.

Copy-Paste nginx Timeout Directives

The usual 504 culprit is proxy_read_timeout (default 60s). Put it in a server or location block and reload.

location /api/ {
    proxy_pass http://backend;

 proxy_connect_timeout 5s; # TCP
 proxy_send_timeout 60s; # nginx → Request
 proxy_read_timeout 300s; # reply (504 !)
}

For FastCGI setups such as PHP-FPM, the directives are different.

location ~ \.php$ {
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_connect_timeout 5s;
    fastcgi_send_timeout    60s;
 fastcgi_read_timeout 300s; # FastCGI 504
}

After changing the config, always syntax-check and reload.

nginx -t && nginx -s reload

Practical tip: Do not set 300s for the entire site. Split slow endpoints into their own location and give those a long timeout; leave the rest at the default. If large uploads are getting cut off, it may be a request-size limit rather than a timeout—see the [nginx 413 troubleshooting guide] as well.

When the Upstream Is the Real Culprit

The most common mistake is raising only the nginx timeout and leaving the upstream as-is, so you still get 504s. You have to raise the app server timeout too.

For gunicorn, raise it like this:

gunicorn app:app --workers 4 --timeout 300

If php-fpm does not have enough workers, requests pile up in the queue and you get 504s. Increase pm.max_children to match your traffic.

Aligning Timeouts Across Multi-Hop Proxies

In microservice and container setups, multi-hop chains such as ALB → nginx-ingress → nginx → gunicorn are common, and timeout-alignment issues have become really frequent. The rule is simple: the outer hop must be longer.

ALB idle timeout (60s+) ≥ nginx proxy_read_timeout ≥ gunicorn --timeout

If this order is inverted—for example, if the ALB idle timeout (60s) is shorter than nginx (300s)—the ALB will drop the connection while nginx is still waiting, and you get a 504. This has been showing up a lot recently with streaming backends that proxy LLM APIs. The longer the response, the more you should start by checking the outermost LB's idle timeout.

Mapping Log Messages to Causes

30-Second Checklist

1. Use curl -w to see at how many seconds it cuts off (30/60/300?)
2. In error.log, check where the timed out message appears (reading vs connecting)
3. Call the upstream directly with curl localhost:8000 to identify the real culprit
4. Split slow endpoints into their own location and adjust proxy_read_timeout
5. Also raise the upstream timeout (e.g. gunicorn --timeout)
6. Confirm the order ALB ≥ nginx ≥ app server
7. nginx -t && nginx -s reload

References: Official Docs

The primary source for the behavior, settings, and errors covered here is the official documentation below. Check it for version-specific options and exact behavior.

• nginx official documentation

FAQ

Q. Can I just raise the timeout indefinitely? A. No. Raising timeouts is first aid only. The root cause is usually a slow DB query or a delayed external API. A longer timeout means nginx connections stay occupied longer, so throughput drops. Fix the actual response time with query indexes, caching, and async processing.

Q. I get a 504 but nothing shows up in the nginx logs. A. It was probably cut off in front of nginx (ALB/ELB, CDN). First check whether the LB idle timeout is shorter than nginx.

Q. I get 504s on WebSocket/SSE. A. Streaming and long-polling connections keep sending data after the response headers, so set proxy_read_timeout long enough (very long for SSE). For WebSocket, also confirm proxy_http_version 1.1 and that the Upgrade/Connection headers are forwarded.

Q. How is this different from the 502 post? A. 504 is a timeout problem: the upstream is alive but slow. 502 is a connection problem: the upstream is dead or the response is broken. For 502, see the [nginx 502 Bad Gateway troubleshooting guide].