Errors

HTTP Status Code

Applications that are using Handshakes’s API will receive conventional HTTP status codes in response to every request that is issued to indicate success or failure of the request.

These HTTP status codes are generally categorized as follows:

• Codes in the 2xx range indicate that the request was accepted successfully.
• Codes in the 4xx range indicate that an error has occurred because of client error (e.g. a required parameter was omitted etc.).
• Codes in the 5xx range indicate that an unexpected error has occurred within Handshakes server.

Unsuccessful Response Code

The table below contains the unsuccessful response codes that will be issued, the potential reasons why they are returned, and recommended actions.

Response code	Response Description	What does it mean?	Recommended Actions
400	Bad Request	Invalid or missing request parameters	Inspect the request parameters and ensure that all required parameters are provided correctly, following the error text in the response.
401	Unauthorized	Invalid or no credentials passed in the request	Inspect the authorisation header and ensure that a valid authentication has been provided.
403	Forbidden	Insufficient credits in account to deduct for the request, or unauthorized request due to no access rights.	Ensure user account has sufficient credit balance and the correct access rights to our different datasets.
404	Not Found	The server can not find the requested entity.	Inspect request parameters and ensure that the input entity is provided correctly.
405	Method not allowed	The requested resource doesn't support the supplied verb	Inspect the HTTP method that was used in the request and ensure that it's valid for the resource being requested.
429	Too many requests	Too many requests within a given amount of time.	Check our rate limits.
500	Internal Server Error	An internal error occurred when processing the request	Attempt the request again and contact the Handshakes Support Team at [email protected] if the HTTP 500 error re-occurs.