Errors

Learn how the Argos API reports errors, the shape of an error response, and what each HTTP status code means.

Argos uses conventional HTTP status codes to indicate whether a request succeeded or failed, and returns a consistent JSON body describing what went wrong.

Error response shape

When a request fails, the response body contains an error message. For validation failures, an optional details array breaks down each problem.

{
  "error": "Invalid request",
  "details": [
    {
      "message": "perPage must be less than or equal to 100"
    }
  ]
}

Field	Type	Description
error	string	A human-readable description of the error.
details	array	Optional. A list of { "message": string } objects with field-level details, typically present on validation errors.

Status codes

Status	Meaning	What to do
400 Bad Request	The request body or a query parameter was invalid.	Check the details array and fix the offending fields.
401 Unauthorized	The token is missing or invalid.	Verify the Authorization header and that your token is correct.
403 Forbidden	The token is valid but lacks access to this resource.	Make sure the token belongs to the project you're targeting.
404 Not Found	The requested resource doesn't exist.	Check the URL, including the owner and project slugs.
409 Conflict	The request conflicts with the resource's current state.	For example, finalizing a build that's already finalized — fetch the latest state and retry if needed.
429 Too Many Requests	You've exceeded the rate limit.	Wait for the Retry-After window, then retry.
500 Internal Server Error	Something went wrong on Argos's side.	Retry after a short delay. If it persists, contact support.
503 Service Unavailable	Argos is temporarily unavailable.	Retry after a short delay.

Handling errors

Always check the response status before parsing the result. Status codes in the 2xx range indicate success; anything else carries an error body you can inspect.

const response = await fetch("https://api.argos-ci.com/v2/project", {
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ARGOS_TOKEN}` },
});

if (!response.ok) {
  const { error, details } = await response.json();
  throw new Error(
    details?.length
      ? `${error}: ${details.map((d) => d.message).join(", ")}`
      : error,
  );
}

const project = await response.json();

For 429 and 5xx responses, retrying with a short delay is usually the right move. For 4xx responses other than 429, the request won't succeed until you change something, so inspect the error message instead of retrying.