Why 200 response codes are not always okay

Relying solely on HTTP response codes, particularly the 200 status code, as indicators of successful operations can be misleading in modern systems due to their complexity and variability. While 200 codes traditionally signify successful processing of a request, they do not always accurately reflect the true state of an operation, leading to potential undercounting of failures and threats. This inconsistency arises because the definition of "success" can vary across different applications and APIs, and HTTP response codes are often used in ways that deviate from their original intent, such as with custom error pages or in GraphQL practices. As a result, organizations must develop a more nuanced understanding of response statuses beyond just the codes themselves, incorporating full request and response data, threat intelligence, and specific API behaviors to achieve more accurate observability and monitoring.