error-handling

name	error-handling
description	This skill covers HTTP error codes, error response formats, and troubleshooting strategies for the Jira Cloud REST API.

Error Handling Skill

This skill covers HTTP error codes, error response formats, and troubleshooting strategies for the Jira Cloud REST API.

HTTP Status Codes

Success Codes

Code	Meaning	Typical Use
200	OK	Successful GET, PUT
201	Created	Successful POST (resource created)
204	No Content	Successful DELETE or PUT with no response body

Client Error Codes

Code	Meaning	Common Cause
400	Bad Request	Malformed JSON, invalid field values, missing required fields
401	Unauthorized	Invalid or missing credentials
403	Forbidden	Valid credentials but insufficient permissions
404	Not Found	Resource does not exist or user lacks browse permission
405	Method Not Allowed	HTTP method not supported for this endpoint
409	Conflict	Resource already exists or version conflict
413	Content Too Large	Request body exceeds size limit
422	Unprocessable Entity	Semantically invalid request
429	Too Many Requests	Rate limit exceeded

Server Error Codes

Code	Meaning	Action
500	Internal Server Error	Retry after delay; report if persistent
502	Bad Gateway	Temporary; retry after delay
503	Service Unavailable	Jira is under maintenance or overloaded
504	Gateway Timeout	Request took too long; simplify query or retry

Error Response Format

Jira Cloud returns errors in this JSON format:

{
  "errorMessages": [
    "Issue does not exist or you do not have permission to see it."
  ],
  "errors": {
    "summary": "You must specify a summary of the issue.",
    "customfield_10001": "This field is required."
  }
}

• errorMessages — Array of general error messages
• errors — Object mapping field names to field-specific errors

Common Errors and Solutions

400 Bad Request

Invalid ADF (Atlassian Document Format):

{
  "errorMessages": [],
  "errors": {
    "description": "Operation value must be a valid Atlassian Document"
  }
}

Solution: Ensure description/comment uses proper ADF structure with type: "doc", version: 1, and valid content nodes.

Missing required field:

{
  "errorMessages": [],
  "errors": {
    "project": "project is required",
    "issuetype": "issuetype is required"
  }
}

Solution: Include all required fields. At minimum: project, issuetype, and summary.

Invalid field value:

{
  "errorMessages": [],
  "errors": {
    "priority": "Priority name 'Urgent' is not valid"
  }
}

Solution: Use GET /rest/api/3/priority to list valid priority names.

401 Unauthorized

{
  "message": "Client must be authenticated to access this resource."
}

Troubleshooting:

1. Verify API token is correct and not expired
2. Ensure email address matches the Atlassian account
3. Check Basic auth header is properly base64-encoded
4. For OAuth, verify access token is not expired; refresh if needed
5. Confirm the Atlassian site URL is correct

403 Forbidden

{
  "errorMessages": [
    "You do not have the permission to see the specified issue."
  ],
  "errors": {}
}

Troubleshooting:

1. Check user permissions with GET /rest/api/3/mypermissions?projectKey=PROJ
2. Verify user has the required project role
3. Check issue security level restrictions
4. Confirm permission scheme grants for the operation

404 Not Found

{
  "errorMessages": [
    "Issue does not exist or you do not have permission to see it."
  ],
  "errors": {}
}

Troubleshooting:

1. Verify the issue key, project key, or resource ID is correct
2. Check that the user has BROWSE_PROJECTS permission
3. Confirm the resource has not been deleted
4. Note: Jira returns 404 instead of 403 to avoid leaking existence information

409 Conflict

{
  "errorMessages": [
    "A project with that name already exists."
  ],
  "errors": {}
}

Solution: Choose a unique name/key, or update the existing resource instead.

429 Too Many Requests

HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 30

Solution: See the Rate Limiting skill. Implement exponential backoff.

Field Validation Errors

When creating or editing issues, Jira validates fields against:

1. Field existence — The field must exist in the project's field configuration
2. Field type — Values must match the field's expected format
3. Required fields — All required fields in the field configuration must be provided
4. Allowed values — Select fields must use valid option IDs or names
5. Permission — User must have permission to set certain fields

Get Create Metadata

Use the create metadata endpoint to discover valid fields and values:

curl -X GET \
  -H "Authorization: Basic $(echo -n '$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN' | base64)" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  "https://{domain}.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/issue/createmeta?projectKeys=PROJ&issuetypeNames=Task&expand=projects.issuetypes.fields"

Get Edit Metadata

curl -X GET \
  -H "Authorization: Basic $(echo -n '$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN' | base64)" \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  "https://{domain}.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/issue/PROJ-123/editmeta"

Retry Strategy

For transient errors (429, 500, 502, 503, 504):

1. Read the Retry-After header if present
2. Otherwise, use exponential backoff: wait min(2^attempt * 1s, 60s)
3. Add random jitter: wait_time * (0.5 + random(0, 0.5))
4. Maximum 5 retry attempts
5. Log failures for debugging

Debugging Tips

• Enable verbose output in curl with -v to see request/response headers
• Check X-RateLimit-Remaining response header for rate limit status
• Use GET /rest/api/3/serverInfo to verify connectivity
• Validate JSON payloads with a linter before sending
• Test with minimal payloads first, then add optional fields
• Check Jira's status page for outages: https://status.atlassian.com