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API errors

When there is something wrong with a request, the API returns an error response that looks like this:

{
"http_status_code": 422,
"error_type": "validation_error",
"error_code": "invalid_field",
"error_message": "Invalid value for request field 'amount.quantity' - 0.00 is too low",
"field": "amount.quantity"
}

The format of the error response:

  • http_status_code: the status code associated with the error
  • error_type: a general error category
  • error_code: a more specific error subcategory
  • error_message: a detailed description of the error
  • field: [optional] the field at fault, if applicable

Error types

Errors are categorised into the following types:

validation_errors

Used for requests that are valid syntax-wise, but semantically-incorrect and cannot be processed by the server. For example, if the request is missing required fields or header, or a request field is incompatible with a user's configuration.

syntax_error

Used for syntactically-incorrect requests, i.e. where the grammar or form of the request itself is wrong. For example, if the request is invalid JSON, or a query or path parameter is incorrectly-formatted.

security_error

Used when there is an issue with authentication or permissions. For example, if an API key has not been provided, or a user does not have sufficient permission to perform an action.

internal_error

Used when the error is on Rootline's side.

idempotency_error

Used when there is an issue with the idempotency keys.