Error Codes

Standardised Error Messages#

HTTP Status Codes#

When a client makes a request to an HTTP server — and the server successfully receives the request — the server must notify the client if the request was successfully handled or not. HTTP accomplishes this with five categories of status codes:

  • 100-level (Informational): Server acknowledges a request
  • 200-level (Success): Server completed the request as expected
  • 204-level (No Content): indicates that a request has succeeded
  • 300-level (Redirection): Client needs to perform further actions to complete the request
  • 400-level (Client error): Client sent an invalid request
  • 401-level (unauthorized): The request sent by the client could not be authenticated
  • 500-level (Server error): Server failed to fulfill a valid request due to an error with server
  • 503-level (Service unavailable): The server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server.

Handling Errors#

At Hackney, we use the following Standardised Error messages for our APIs:

404 - Not Found: If an item (requested resource was not found)
{
"devErrorMessages": ["debug info or stack trace"],
"userErrorMessage": "The item you searched for was not found"
}
400 - Bad Request: When the client sent an invalid request
(e.g. missing required header, body or parameter)
{
"devErrorMessages": ["validation errors"],
"userErrorMessage": "Your item could not be created for the following reasons..."
}
500 - Internal Server Error: Generic error occured
{
"devErrorMessages": ["debug info or stack trace"],
"userErrorMessage": "The item you searched for was not found"
}

Basic Errors

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