Errors & conventions

Assert these in every integration. The platform's promise is that refusals are self-diagnosing, the error body alone should tell a misconfigured client what to fix.

Universal request conventions

Convention	Contract
Authentication	`Authorization: Bearer <api-key-or-oauth-token>` on every call. `x-api-key`-shaped headers also pass the edge.
Idempotency	`Idempotency-Key: <uuid>` on mutating POSTs. Required on `publish-dpp` and `oauth/token`; accepted & recommended elsewhere.
Content type	`application/json` unless the endpoint says multipart.
Errors	Typed envelope `{ error: { code, message, details? } }`.
Correlation	Optional `X-Correlation-Id` flows route → use case → audit log.

The error envelope

JSON

{
  "error": {
    "code": "API_SCOPE_DENIED",
    "message": "Missing required scope for this operation.",
    "details": { "required": "products:create", "available": ["products:view"] }
  }
}

Error catalogue

The codes an integrator must branch on. Two are documented deviations, asserted as-is until the underlying contract changes.

Status	Code	Trigger
401	-	Bad/garbage or missing credential; also role-level permission denials.
403	`API_SCOPE_DENIED`	Good credential, missing scope. Carries `{ required, available }`.
403	`FORBIDDEN`	Out-of-scope on `publish-dpp`, different auth wrapper. Deviation.
403	`SANDBOX_EXPIRED`	Sandbox tenant past expiry (both conditions required).
403	`GUARD_REJECTED`	Illegal passport lifecycle transition (e.g. EDIT a published passport).
400	`VALIDATION_ERROR`	Field validation, names the field/bound (e.g. 21-char serial, description < 10).
422	`EXTENSIONS_REQUIRED`	Missing `extensions` on product create.
422	`SCHEMA_NOT_FOUND`	Category has no effective schema (see the category-hint gotcha).
400	`INVALID_GTIN` / `INVALID_SERIAL`	Bad check digit / over-long serial at the resolver.
404	`PRODUCT_NOT_FOUND`	Unknown-but-valid GTIN at the resolver, names gtin/serial/host.
404	-	Draft/nonexistent public passport; cross-tenant fetch. Authz runs before existence, no id enumeration.
410	`SERIAL_VOIDED`	Voided serialized item, returns a tombstone, zero passport content.
422	`UNKNOWN_EVENT_TYPE`	Webhook subscription to a non-catalogue event name.
422	`PASSPORT_NOT_PUBLISHABLE`	Registry broadcast attempted on a passport whose lifecycle state is not publishable.
409	`DUPLICATE_GTIN`	A second model-granularity product with the same GTIN in this tenant, `(company_id, gtin)` is unique.
409	`ALREADY_REVOKED`	Revoking a key that is already revoked. Note that `rotate` revokes the old id for you and returns a NEW `data.id`, revoke that one.
409	-	Conflict: re-void, same-key different-body idempotency, scheme-lock change, illegal passport command transition.
503	`COMPLIANCE_EVALUATION_UNAVAILABLE`	Battery only, and deliberate: the governed battery obligation pack is quarantined, so no battery compliance verdict may be issued. This is `NOT_EVALUATED`, a fail-closed refusal to judge, never a compliance failure. Every other category evaluates normally; start on `electronics`.
503	`REGISTRY_UNAVAILABLE`	No external registry (CATENA-X / GS1 / EBSI) is configured, the normal sandbox answer to `POST /passports/{id}/publish`.
503	`ANCHORING_UNAVAILABLE`	Blockchain not configured in this environment, the normal sandbox answer.
500	`ANCHORING_FAILED`	A real anchoring fault on a configured chain. Distinct from `ANCHORING_UNAVAILABLE` (503): only this one means something is wrong.
405	-	Wrong verb on a route that does not support it. (Product update accepts `PATCH`, canonical, and `PUT` as an alias.)
302	-	Resolver redirect to `/p/{uid}` (the public uid = the product id).
202	-	Async accepted (generation, imports).

Rate limiting is enforced: per-tier budgets on a Redis-backed limiter. Over budget → 429 RATE_LIMITED with X-RateLimit-Limit / X-RateLimit-Remaining / X-RateLimit-Reset and Retry-After. Back off on Retry-After.

Idempotency semantics

Same key + same body → the first result is replayed, with no duplicate side effects.
Same key + different body → a typed conflict.
Enforcement is per-route: publish-dpp and oauth/token require a key; POST /products without one still returns 201.

← PreviousAuthentication Next →Sandbox & environments