API Error Codes

The API returns different error codes using the HTTP status and will also include some high-level information in the JSON response, including the status code, a message, and sometimes a more elaborate description.

{
  "message": "DNS Error - Could not resolve domain",
  "description": "The domain .google.com could not be resolved to a valid IPv4/IPv6 address. We won't try to load it in the browser.",
  "status": 400
}

Scan API

For scan submissions, there are various reasons why a scan request won't be accepted and will return an error code. This includes, among others:

• Blacklisted domains and URLs, requested to be blacklisted by their respective owners.
• Spammy submissions of URLs known to be used only for spamming this service.
• Invalid hostnames or invalid protocol schemes (e.g., FTP).
• Missing URL property ... yes, it does happen.
• Contains HTTP basic auth information ... yes, that happens as well.
• Non-resolvable hostnames (A, AAAA, CNAME) which we will not even try to scan.

An error will typically be indicated by the HTTP 400 status code. It might look like this:

{
  "message": "DNS Error - Could not resolve domain",
  "description": "The domain .google.com could not be resolved to a valid IPv4/IPv6 address. We won't try to load it in the browser.",
  "status": 400
}