Troubleshooting Common API Errors

400 – Bad Request

This usually means your request is malformed.

What to check:

• Are all required fields present?
• Are you sending the correct data format?
• Did you send a body with a GET request (you shouldn't)?

401 – Unauthorized

You are not authenticated, or your token is invalid.

What to do:

• Make sure you're including a valid token in the header: Authorization: Bearer your-api-token
• Double-check that your token has the correct permissions
• Generate a new token if needed:
  https://versedb.com/user/api-tokens

403 – Forbidden

You are authenticated but not allowed to perform the action.

What to check:

• Are you trying to access someone else's private data?
• Does your token have the correct scopes?

404 – Not Found

The resource you requested doesn’t exist.

Common causes:

• Incorrect or expired ID
• Typo in the endpoint path
• Using a slug instead of a numeric ID

405 – Method Not Allowed

You are using the wrong HTTP method (e.g., POST instead of GET).

Fix:

• Check the API docs to see which method is supported

429 – Too Many Requests

You hit your rate limit.

How to handle:

• Wait until the X-RateLimit-Reset time
• Use retry_after in the response to determine when to try again
• Implement exponential backoff if retrying automatically

500 – Server Error

Something went wrong on our end.

What to do:

• Retry after a short delay
• If it keeps happening, contact VerseDB support

Summary