Errors

The API returns an error object with each unsuccessful request.

Backstack uses conventional HTTP response codes to indicate the failure of a request. Codes in the 4xx range indicate a request failed (i.e. a required parameter was omitted). Codes in the 5xx range indicate a system error.

Error object

{
  "error": {
    "request_method": "post",
    "type": "user",
    "code": 400,
    "message": "Required values are missing.",
    "fields": {
      "username": "This value is required.",
      "password": "This value is required."
    },
    "dev_message": "Unknown resource."
  }
}

INFO

The error.message is always suitable for user feedback. When the error type is user, details are provided to assist the user in recovery. Otherwise, the default "An error occurred. Please try again later." is provided.

Property	Type	Description
error.request_method	String	The request method.Use this to evaluate your response message.
error.type	String	The error type. (See error types for more information.)
error.code	Integer	The error code. (See error codes for more information.)
error.message	String	The error message. This value is always suitable for user feedback. When the error type is user, details are provided to assist the user in recovery. Otherwise, the generic "An error occurred. Please try again later." is provided.
error.fields	Array	An array of field names and their associated error messages for display in your UI.
error.dev_message	string	A message that better explains the issue.

Error types

You can also evaluate the error by checking the error.type. All errors are categorized by one of the following types.

Type	Description
user	An error occurred as a result of user provided values (e.g. invalid password, required data missing).
codebase	The request was invalid or missing required parameters that could not be provided by the user (e.g. uri, api keys, record IDs).
system	System errors indicate there was a problem on our end.

Error codes

Code	Type	Description
400	Bad Request	The request was unacceptable, often due to missing a required parameter.
401	Unauthorized	Invalid API initialization.
403	Forbidden	The API key doesn't have permissions to perform the request.
404	Not Found	The requested resource doesn't exist.
429	Too Many Requests	Too many requests hit the API too quickly.
500	Server Errors	Something went wrong on our end.