clade-common-errors

name	clade-common-errors
description	Diagnose and fix Anthropic API errors — authentication, rate limits, Use when working with common-errors patterns. overloaded, context length, and content policy issues. Trigger with "anthropic error", "claude 429", "claude overloaded", "anthropic not working", "debug claude api".
allowed-tools	Read, Grep, Bash(curl:*)
version	1.0.0
license	MIT
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
compatible-with	claude-code
tags	["saas","anthropic","claude","errors","debugging"]

Anthropic Common Errors

Overview

Every Anthropic API error includes a type field and HTTP status code. Here are the real errors you'll hit and how to fix them.

Error Reference

Instructions

Step 1: authentication_error (401)

{"type":"error","error":{"type":"authentication_error","message":"invalid x-api-key"}}

Cause: API key is missing, malformed, or revoked. Fix:

# Verify key exists and starts with sk-ant-
echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | head -c 10
# Should print: sk-ant-api

# Test directly
curl https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "claude-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"claude-sonnet-4-20250514","max_tokens":10,"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}]}'

---

Step 2: rate_limit_error (429)

{"type":"error","error":{"type":"rate_limit_error",