> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.visual-layer.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Error Handling

> HTTP status codes, error response format, and Python error handling patterns for the Visual Layer API.

The Visual Layer API uses standard HTTP status codes. All error responses include a `detail` field describing what went wrong.

## Error Response Format

Every error returns a JSON body with a single `detail` field:

```json theme={"theme":"monokai"}
{
  "detail": "Dataset ad48d250-1232-11f1-bfca-fa39f6ed1f22 has no embedding_config — index the dataset first."
}
```

***

## HTTP Status Codes

| Code    | Meaning                                                                                        |
| ------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **200** | Success.                                                                                       |
| **202** | Accepted — request received, processing started asynchronously.                                |
| **400** | Bad Request — check your request parameters.                                                   |
| **401** | Unauthorized — your JWT token is missing, invalid, or expired.                                 |
| **403** | Forbidden — insufficient permissions or feature disabled.                                      |
| **404** | Not Found — resource does not exist or you do not have access.                                 |
| **409** | Conflict — resource state prevents the operation (for example, dataset not in `READY` status). |
| **422** | Unprocessable Entity — invalid parameter format or value.                                      |
| **500** | Internal Server Error — contact support if this persists.                                      |

***

## Python Error Handling

All code examples in this documentation call `raise_for_status()`, which raises an exception on any 4xx or 5xx response. Use the following pattern to catch errors and read the `detail` message:

```python theme={"theme":"monokai"}
import requests

try:
    resp = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=payload)
    resp.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
    detail = e.response.json().get("detail", e.response.text)
    print(f"Error {e.response.status_code}: {detail}")
    raise
```

***

## Related Resources

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Authentication" icon="file-code-2" href="/api-reference/authentication">
    Generate the JWT token required for all API calls.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Retrieve Dataset Status" icon="circle-check" href="/api-reference/retrieve-dataset-status">
    Check dataset status before running operations.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>