Adobe Common Errors
Overview
Quick reference for the most common errors across Adobe APIs with real error messages, root causes, and verified fixes.
Prerequisites
Instructions
Step 1: Identify the HTTP Status Code and Error Body
Adobe APIs return structured error responses:
{
"error_code": "403003",
"message": "Api Key is invalid"
}
Step 2: Match Error Below and Apply Fix
Error 1: 401 Unauthorized — Token Expired or Invalid
{"error":"invalid_token","error_description":"Could not match jwt signature to any of the bindings"}
Cause: Access token expired (24h TTL) or you are still using deprecated JWT credentials.
Fix:
curl -X POST 'https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/ims/token/v3' \
-d "client_id=${ADOBE_CLIENT_ID}&client_secret=${ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET}&grant_type=client_credentials&scope=${ADOBE_SCOPES}"
Error 2: 403 Forbidden — API Not Entitled
{"error_code":"403003","message":"Api Key is invalid"}
Cause: Your Developer Console project does not have the API added, or the product profile is missing.
Fix: Go to Developer Console > Project > Add API > Select the API > Assign product profile.
Error 3: 429 Too Many Requests — Rate Limited
HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 30
Cause: Exceeded API rate limits. Adobe rate limits vary by API:
- Firefly: ~20 req/min on trial
- PDF Services: 500 transactions/month (free tier)
- Events Publishing: 3,000 req/5sec per api-key
Fix:
const retryAfter = parseInt(response.headers.get('Retry-After') || '30');
await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, retryAfter * 1000));
Error 4: 400 Bad Request — Firefly Content Policy
{"type":"INPUT_VALIDATION_ERROR","title":"prompt is not allowed by the content policy"}
Cause: Firefly prompt contains prohibited content (real people, trademarks, explicit content).
Fix: Remove prohibited terms. Firefly has guardrails against generating images of real people, brand logos, and copyrighted characters.
Error 5: 400 InputValidationError — Photoshop Storage URL
{"type":"InputValidationError","title":"input href is not a valid pre-signed URL"}
Cause: Photoshop/Lightroom APIs require pre-signed cloud storage URLs (S3, Azure Blob, Dropbox), not direct file uploads.
Fix:
const inputUrl = await s3.getSignedUrl('getObject', {
Bucket: 'my-bucket', Key: 'input.jpg', Expires: 3600
});
const outputUrl = await s3.getSignedUrl('putObject', {
Bucket: 'my-bucket', Key: 'output.png', Expires: 3600
});
Error 6: DISQUALIFIED — PDF Services Encrypted File
{"status":"failed","error":{"code":"DISQUALIFIED","message":"File is encrypted"}}
Cause: PDF is password-protected or has DRM restrictions.
Fix: Remove encryption before processing:
qpdf --decrypt --password=yourpassword input.pdf decrypted.pdf
Error 7: invalid_scope — OAuth Scope Not Entitled
{"error":"invalid_scope","error_description":"scope openid,firefly_api not allowed"}
Cause: Your organization is not entitled to the requested API scope.
Fix: In Adobe Admin Console, ensure the product profile associated with your project includes the required API entitlements.
Error 8: ENOTFOUND — DNS Resolution Failure
Error: getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND ims-na1.adobelogin.com
Cause: DNS resolution failure or network firewall blocking Adobe endpoints.
Fix:
nslookup ims-na1.adobelogin.com
nslookup firefly-api.adobe.io
nslookup image.adobe.io
Quick Diagnostic Commands
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" -X POST \
'https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/ims/token/v3' \
-d "client_id=${ADOBE_CLIENT_ID}&client_secret=${ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET}&grant_type=client_credentials&scope=${ADOBE_SCOPES}"
curl -s https://status.adobe.com/api/v1/incidents | python3 -m json.tool | head -20
Escalation Path
- Collect evidence with
adobe-debug-bundle
- Check https://status.adobe.com for active incidents
- Contact Adobe Support with request ID (from response headers:
x-request-id)
Resources
Next Steps
For comprehensive debugging, see adobe-debug-bundle.
