Error Status

Bayou's API handles errors by sending custom responses that provide valuable insight to developers and guidance on how to fix the error.

In general, 200 HTTP codes correspond to success, 4XX codes are for developer- or user-related failures, and 5XX codes are for Bayou-related issues.

HTTP Code	Status	What Bayou uses it for
200	Ok	Everything worked as expected
400	Bad request	Request unacceptable, usually because of a missing parameter
401	Unauthorized	No valid API key provided
403	Forbidden	API key doesn’t have permission to perform the requested action
404	Not Found	The requested object doesn’t exist
405	Method Not Allowed	The request's HTTP method is not supported for this route
409	Conflict	Request conflicts with another request, usually related to external_id
415	Unsupported Media Type	The payload format is in an unsupported format
500	Server error	Issue on Bayou's side

Error Code Convention

Error codes from Bayou's API follow a standard format. The error object includes the following fields: error_type, error_code, error_message, and docs_url. Below is an example of a 400 error code:

http code 400
{ 
	"error_type": “invalid_input”,
	"error_code": “utility_code_invalid”,
	”error_message”: “The utility code you provided in the request is invalid. Did you mean commonwealth_edison? A full list of utility codes can be found here: https://docs.bayou.energy/reference/utility-support”,
	”docs_url”: “https://docs.bayou.energy/docs/error-codes#utility_code_input_invalid” 
}

Error Types

Below is a list of the error_types in Bayou's API:

error_type	Explanation
invalid_input	An input error occurs when a request has an invalid or missing parameter.
invalid_request	An invalid request occurs when a requested route or the requested information doesn’t exist.
auth_error	An auth error occurs when the API key is missing or doesn’t have permission to perform the requested action.
api_error	API errors cover any internal errors that may occur.