Understanding API Error Codes: 10 Status Errors When Building APIs For The First Time And How To Fix Them

API integration can often pose challenges, especially for those new to the process, largely due to insufficient documentation on error status codes that tend to focus on successful scenarios rather than potential failures. HTTP status codes, ranging from 100 to 511, are essential for understanding the results of API requests, with codes 400-511 indicating errors. Moesif API Analytics offers tools to track and analyze these errors in real-time, helping developers diagnose issues and improve API reliability. Developers must understand HTTP status codes and their categorizations—informational, successful, redirection, client error, and server error responses—to effectively troubleshoot and optimize their applications. Common client-side errors include 400 Bad Request, 403 Forbidden, and 404 Not Found, often due to malformed requests or lack of permissions, while server-side errors like 500 Internal Server Error and 503 Service Unavailable can result from server overload or configuration issues. Effective error handling involves using meaningful error messages, logging errors, and using standardized codes, while error prevention can be achieved through input validation, caching, and load balancing. Moesif provides monitoring and notification features to track HTTP status code errors, enabling proactive issue resolution before they affect users.