# Error Codes

## Overview

The parcelLab API uses standard HTTP status codes to indicate whether a request was successful or not. In case of an error, the response body will contain details of the error in a JSON object with the following structure.

```json
{
    "type": "client_error",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "error_code",
            "detail": "Error message.",
            "attr": "Optional additional information."
        }
    ]
}
```

## HTTP Status Codes <a href="#id-401-unauthorized" id="id-401-unauthorized"></a>

When you make an API call, receiving a 2xx response (for example: 200 OK) would indicate that the client’s request was successfully received, understood, and processed by the server.

For a failed API request, error codes are categorized into different groups to indicate specific issues encountered during the request process:

* 4xx client errors - these codes indicate issues with the client's request (for example: incorrect parameters or unauthorized access)
* 5xx server errors - these codes indicate that the server failed to process the request

## Error Code Examples <a href="#id-401-unauthorized" id="id-401-unauthorized"></a>

Some example error codes are described in the following sections.

### 401 Unauthorized <a href="#id-401-unauthorized" id="id-401-unauthorized"></a>

These errors are returned with the status code 401 whenever the authentication fails or a request is made to an endpoint without providing the authentication information as part of the request. Here are the two possible errors that can be returned.

```json
{
    "type": "client_error",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "authentication_failed",
            "detail": "Incorrect authentication credentials.",
            "attr": null
        }
    ]
}
```

```json
{
    "type": "client_error",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "not_authenticated",
            "detail": "Authentication credentials were not provided.",
            "attr": null
        }
    ]
}
```

### 405 Method Not Allowed <a href="#id-405-method-not-allowed" id="id-405-method-not-allowed"></a>

This is returned when an endpoint is called with an unexpected http method (for example: if updating a user requires a POST request and a PATCH is issued instead) this error is returned. Here's how the response would look.

```json
{
    "type": "client_error",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "method_not_allowed",
            "detail": "Method “patch” not allowed.",
            "attr": null
        }
    ]
}
```

### 406 Not Acceptable <a href="#id-406-not-acceptable" id="id-406-not-acceptable"></a>

This is returned if the `Accept` header is submitted and contains a value other than `application/json`. Here's how the response would look.

```json
{
    "type": "client_error",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "not_acceptable",
            "detail": "Could not satisfy the request Accept header.",
            "attr": null
        }
    ]
}
```

### 415 Unsupported Media Type <a href="#id-415-unsupported-media-type" id="id-415-unsupported-media-type"></a>

This is returned when the request content type is not JSON. Here's how the response would look.

```json
{
    "type": "client_error",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "not_acceptable",
            "detail": "Unsupported media type “application/xml” in request.",
            "attr": null
        }
    ]
}
```

### 500 Internal Server Error <a href="#id-500-internal-server-error" id="id-500-internal-server-error"></a>

This is returned when the API server encounters an unexpected error. Here's how the response would look.

```json
{
    "type": "server_error",
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "error",
            "detail": "A server error occurred.",
            "attr": null
        }
    ]
}
```


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