API Error Handling and Debugging Flashcards
6 cards from real API practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 API Error Handling and Debugging flashcards as text
What does a 408 Request Timeout status code mean?
Answer: The client didn't send a request within the server's timeout period
408 Request Timeout means the server waited for the client to complete the request but the client didn't send it within the allowed time.
What is 'error propagation' in microservices API testing?
Answer: How errors from one service flow through and affect dependent services
Error propagation describes how failures in one microservice cascade through API calls to dependent services, a key concern in distributed systems testing.
What is 'retry logic' in API client design?
Answer: Automatically retrying failed requests with transient errors
Retry logic automatically re-attempts API requests that fail with transient errors (like 503 or network failures) using strategies like exponential backoff.
What is 'exponential backoff' in API retry strategies?
Answer: Increasing the wait time between retries exponentially after each failure
Exponential backoff doubles the wait time after each failed retry (1s, 2s, 4s, 8s...), reducing load on a struggling server.
What does a 409 Conflict status code indicate in REST APIs?
Answer: The request conflicts with the current state of the resource
409 Conflict indicates the request couldn't be completed because it conflicts with the current resource state, such as duplicate resource creation.
What is 'circuit breaker' pattern in API error handling?
Answer: Stopping calls to a failing service to allow it to recover
The circuit breaker pattern stops sending requests to a failing service after a threshold of failures, giving it time to recover and preventing cascade failures.