Moderation API uses conventional HTTP response codes to indicate the success or failure of an API request. In general: Codes in the 2xx range indicate success. Codes in the 4xx range indicate an error that failed given the information provided (e.g., a required parameter was omitted or is formatted incorrectly, etc.). Codes in the 5xx range indicate an error with Moderation API’s servers.
Error CodeMeaning
400Bad Request — The request was unacceptable, often due to missing a required parameter.
401Unauthorized — No valid API key provided.
403Forbidden — The API key doesn’t have permissions to perform the request, or your quota is used and you need to upgrade.
404Not Found — The specified resource could not be found.
405Method Not Allowed — You tried to access a resource with an invalid method.
429Too Many Requests — See rate limits
500Internal Server Error — We had a problem with our server. Try again later.
503Service Unavailable — We’re temporarily offline for maintenance. Please try again later.

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Response signature

Error responses are returned with a JSON object with the following signature:
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code
string
required
The error code. BAD_REQUEST, UNAUTHORIZED, FORBIDDEN, NOT_FOUND, METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED, TOO_MANY_REQUESTS, INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
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message
string
required
A human-readable message providing more details about the error.
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issues
array
An array of issues that caused the error. For example input fields that are invalid.

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Handling errors

Our API can return errors for many reasons, such as a authentication errors, and network unavailability. We recommend writing code that gracefully handles all possible API errors to avoid making your own service unavailable.