Errors and status codes

In this guide, we will talk about what happens when something goes wrong while you work with the API. Let's look at some status codes and error types you might encounter.

You can tell if your request was successful by checking the status code when receiving an API response. If a response comes back unsuccessful, you can use the error type and error message to figure out what has gone wrong and do some rudimentary debugging.

Categories

Here is a list of the different categories of status codes returned by SheetDB. Use these to understand if a request was successful.

  • Name
    2xx
    Type
    Description

    A 2xx status code indicates a successful response.

  • Name
    4xx
    Type
    Description

    A 4xx status code indicates a client error — this means it's a you problem.

  • Name
    5xx
    Type
    Description

    A 5xx status code indicates a server error — you shouldn't be seeing these.

Status codes

  • Name
    200 OK
    Type
    Description

    The request has succeeded for GET, PATCH and DELETE requests.

  • Name
    201 Created
    Type
    Description

    The request has succeeded for POST requests.

  • Name
    400 Bad Request
    Type
    Description

    The API could not understand the request. There is probably something wrong with the data format. Each endpoint has its own guidelines.

  • Name
    401 Unauthorized
    Type
    Description

    An error with Google account authentication or you have entered an incorrect Barer token / Basic Auth credentials.

  • Name
    402 Payment Required
    Type
    Description

    Payment is required to process the request. Occurs when you try to make a request that requires a higher plan.

  • Name
    403 Forbidden
    Type
    Description

    Action is forbidden.

  • Name
    404 Not Found
    Type
    Description

    The server did not find anything matching the request. Possible responses:

    • {"error": "Wrong API id"} - the API ID in the URL does not exist.
    • {"error": "Sheet not found."} - the sheet attribute points to a sheet (tab) that does not exist, see Multiple sheets.
    • {"error": "Undefined column: x"} - the column used in a search, update or delete query does not exist in the first row.
    • {"error": "No results found"} - an update or delete query did not match any row. Search returns an empty array with status 200 in this case.
  • Name
    405 Method Not Allowed
    Type
    Description

    You are probably using the wrong method for url endpoint.

  • Name
    429 Too Many Requests
    Type
    Description

    You have exceeded either the request limit of your plan or the rate limit of the API (90 requests per minute, shared by all clients of that API). Learn more about both limits here.

  • Name
    500 Internal Server Error
    Type
    Description

    We had a problem. Try again later.

  • Name
    1015 Rate limit
    Type
    Description

    An error page from Cloudflare, shown when one client sends an abnormal burst of requests. Wait a minute and try again. The rate limit of the API itself returns 429, see above.