diff --git a/rdagent/oai/backend/base.py b/rdagent/oai/backend/base.py
index 7210ed1d..cf0512a1 100644
--- a/rdagent/oai/backend/base.py
+++ b/rdagent/oai/backend/base.py
@@ -481,9 +481,12 @@ class APIBackend(ABC):
                     or "\\'messages\\' must contain the word \\'json\\' in some form" in e.message
                 ):
                     kwargs["add_json_in_prompt"] = True
-                too_long_error_message = "maximum context length" in e.message or "input must have less than" in e.message  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
 
-                if hasattr(e, "message") and embedding and too_long_error_message:
+                too_long_error_message = hasattr(e, "message") and (
+                    "maximum context length" in e.message or "input must have less than" in e.message
+                )
+
+                if embedding and too_long_error_message:
                     if not embedding_truncated:
                         # Handle embedding text too long error - truncate once and retry
                         model_name = LLM_SETTINGS.embedding_model