Error Handling

This guide covers error handling strategies, common error types, and best practices for building resilient applications with the Blue Oyster API.

Error Response Format

All API errors follow this standard format:

{
  "error": "Human-readable error message",
  "stack": "Stack trace (development only)",
  "code": "MACHINE_READABLE_ERROR_CODE",
  "details": {
    "additional": "contextual information"
  }
}

HTTP Status Codes

Code	Description	Retry
`400`	Bad Request - Invalid parameters	No
`401`	Unauthorized - Authentication required	No
`403`	Forbidden - Insufficient permissions	No
`404`	Not Found - Endpoint or resource doesn’t exist	No
`429`	Too Many Requests - Rate limited	Yes (with backoff)
`500`	Internal Server Error - Server-side issue	Yes
`502`	Bad Gateway - Upstream service error	Yes
`503`	Service Unavailable - Temporary outage	Yes
`504`	Gateway Timeout - Request timeout	Yes

Common Error Codes

API Errors

TOOL_EXECUTION_FAILED

string

Tool execution encountered an error. Check tool parameters and external service status.

MEMORY_NOT_INITIALIZED

string

MongoDB memory system not configured. Thread persistence unavailable.

INVALID_REQUEST

string

Request body malformed or missing required parameters.

RATE_LIMITED

string

Too many requests. Implement exponential backoff.

MODEL_ERROR

string

AI model processing failed. May be temporary.

Speech-to-Text Errors

AUDIO_PROCESSING_ERROR

string

Audio file processing failed. Check file format and size.

INVALID_AUDIO_FORMAT

string

Audio file format not supported.

AUDIO_TOO_LARGE

string

Audio file exceeds size limit (25MB).

Error Handling Strategies

Basic Error Handling

async function makeAPIRequest(endpoint, data) {
  try {
    const response = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}${endpoint}`, {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
      body: JSON.stringify(data)
    });

    if (!response.ok) {
      const errorData = await response.json();
      throw new Error(`API Error: ${errorData.error}`);
    }

    return await response.json();
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Request failed:', error);
    throw error;
  }
}

Exponential Backoff

class RetryHandler {
  constructor(maxRetries = 3, baseDelay = 1000) {
    this.maxRetries = maxRetries;
    this.baseDelay = baseDelay;
  }

  async executeWithRetry(operation) {
    let lastError;

    for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= this.maxRetries; attempt++) {
      try {
        return await operation();
      } catch (error) {
        lastError = error;

        if (!this.shouldRetry(error) || attempt === this.maxRetries) {
          throw error;
        }

        const delay = this.calculateDelay(attempt);
        await this.sleep(delay);
      }
    }

    throw lastError;
  }

  shouldRetry(error) {
    // Retry on network errors and server errors
    if (error.name === 'TypeError' || error.message.includes('fetch')) {
      return true; // Network error
    }

    // Retry on specific HTTP status codes
    const retryableStatuses = [429, 500, 502, 503, 504];
    return retryableStatuses.some(status =>
      error.message.includes(status.toString())
    );
  }

  calculateDelay(attempt) {
    // Exponential backoff with jitter
    const exponentialDelay = this.baseDelay * Math.pow(2, attempt);
    const jitter = Math.random() * 0.1 * exponentialDelay;
    return exponentialDelay + jitter;
  }

  sleep(ms) {
    return new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
  }
}

// Usage
const retryHandler = new RetryHandler();

const result = await retryHandler.executeWithRetry(async () => {
  return await chat.sendMessage("Hello!", "friend");
});

Circuit Breaker Pattern

class CircuitBreaker {
  constructor(failureThreshold = 5, recoveryTimeout = 60000) {
    this.failureThreshold = failureThreshold;
    this.recoveryTimeout = recoveryTimeout;
    this.failureCount = 0;
    this.lastFailureTime = null;
    this.state = 'CLOSED'; // CLOSED, OPEN, HALF_OPEN
  }

  async execute(operation) {
    if (this.state === 'OPEN') {
      if (Date.now() - this.lastFailureTime > this.recoveryTimeout) {
        this.state = 'HALF_OPEN';
      } else {
        throw new Error('Circuit breaker is OPEN');
      }
    }

    try {
      const result = await operation();
      this.onSuccess();
      return result;
    } catch (error) {
      this.onFailure();
      throw error;
    }
  }

  onSuccess() {
    this.failureCount = 0;
    this.state = 'CLOSED';
  }

  onFailure() {
    this.failureCount++;
    this.lastFailureTime = Date.now();

    if (this.failureCount >= this.failureThreshold) {
      this.state = 'OPEN';
    }
  }

  getState() {
    return this.state;
  }
}

// Usage
const circuitBreaker = new CircuitBreaker();

const result = await circuitBreaker.execute(async () => {
  return await chat.sendMessage("Hello!", "friend");
});

Comprehensive Error Handler

class APIErrorHandler {
  constructor(chat) {
    this.chat = chat;
    this.retryHandler = new RetryHandler();
    this.circuitBreaker = new CircuitBreaker();
  }

  async sendMessageWithErrorHandling(message, personality = 'friend') {
    try {
      return await this.circuitBreaker.execute(async () => {
        return await this.retryHandler.executeWithRetry(async () => {
          return await this.chat.sendMessage(message, personality);
        });
      });
    } catch (error) {
      return await this.handleError(error, message, personality);
    }
  }

  async handleError(error, originalMessage, personality) {
    const errorType = this.categorizeError(error);

    switch (errorType) {
      case 'network':
        return await this.handleNetworkError(originalMessage, personality);

      case 'rate_limit':
        return await this.handleRateLimit(originalMessage, personality);

      case 'server_error':
        return await this.handleServerError(originalMessage, personality);

      case 'validation':
        return await this.handleValidationError(error, originalMessage);

      default:
        return await this.handleUnknownError(error, originalMessage);
    }
  }

  categorizeError(error) {
    const message = error.message.toLowerCase();

    if (message.includes('network') || message.includes('fetch')) {
      return 'network';
    }
    if (message.includes('429') || message.includes('rate')) {
      return 'rate_limit';
    }
    if (message.includes('500') || message.includes('502') || message.includes('503')) {
      return 'server_error';
    }
    if (message.includes('400') || message.includes('invalid')) {
      return 'validation';
    }
    return 'unknown';
  }

  async handleNetworkError(message, personality) {
    // Try with simplified message
    const simplifiedMessage = message.length > 100 ?
      message.substring(0, 100) + '...' : message;

    try {
      return await this.chat.sendMessage(simplifiedMessage, personality);
    } catch (fallbackError) {
      throw new Error('Network connectivity issues. Please check your connection and try again.');
    }
  }

  async handleRateLimit(message, personality) {
    // Wait and retry once
    await this.sleep(2000);
    try {
      return await this.chat.sendMessage(message, personality);
    } catch (retryError) {
      throw new Error('Rate limit exceeded. Please wait a moment before trying again.');
    }
  }

  async handleServerError(message, personality) {
    // Try with different personality or simplified request
    const fallbackPersonality = personality === 'guru' ? 'friend' : 'guru';

    try {
      return await this.chat.sendMessage(message, fallbackPersonality);
    } catch (fallbackError) {
      throw new Error('Service temporarily unavailable. Please try again in a few minutes.');
    }
  }

  async handleValidationError(error, message) {
    // Extract validation details and provide helpful feedback
    const details = error.details || {};
    let helpfulMessage = 'Request validation failed. ';

    if (details.missingField) {
      helpfulMessage += `Missing required field: ${details.missingField}`;
    } else if (details.invalidField) {
      helpfulMessage += `Invalid field: ${details.invalidField}`;
    } else {
      helpfulMessage += 'Please check your request parameters.';
    }

    throw new Error(helpfulMessage);
  }

  async handleUnknownError(error, message) {
    // Log for debugging and provide generic message
    console.error('Unknown API error:', error);
    throw new Error('An unexpected error occurred. Please try again or contact support if the issue persists.');
  }

  sleep(ms) {
    return new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
  }
}

// Usage
const errorHandler = new APIErrorHandler(chat);

const result = await errorHandler.sendMessageWithErrorHandling(
  "Tell me about meditation",
  "friend"
);

Error Monitoring

Error Tracking

class ErrorTracker {
  constructor() {
    this.errors = [];
    this.maxErrors = 100;
  }

  trackError(error, context = {}) {
    const errorEntry = {
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
      error: error.message,
      stack: error.stack,
      context,
      userAgent: navigator.userAgent,
      url: window.location.href
    };

    this.errors.push(errorEntry);

    // Keep only recent errors
    if (this.errors.length > this.maxErrors) {
      this.errors.shift();
    }

    // Send to error reporting service
    this.reportError(errorEntry);
  }

  reportError(errorEntry) {
    // Send to your error reporting service
    console.error('API Error:', errorEntry);

    // Example: Send to analytics service
    if (window.gtag) {
      window.gtag('event', 'exception', {
        description: errorEntry.error,
        fatal: false
      });
    }
  }

  getErrorSummary() {
    const summary = {
      totalErrors: this.errors.length,
      recentErrors: this.errors.slice(-10),
      errorTypes: this.categorizeErrors()
    };

    return summary;
  }

  categorizeErrors() {
    const categories = {};

    this.errors.forEach(error => {
      const category = this.categorizeError(error.error);
      categories[category] = (categories[category] || 0) + 1;
    });

    return categories;
  }

  categorizeError(errorMessage) {
    const message = errorMessage.toLowerCase();

    if (message.includes('network') || message.includes('fetch')) {
      return 'Network';
    }
    if (message.includes('rate') || message.includes('429')) {
      return 'Rate Limit';
    }
    if (message.includes('500') || message.includes('server')) {
      return 'Server Error';
    }
    if (message.includes('400') || message.includes('invalid')) {
      return 'Validation';
    }
    return 'Other';
  }
}

// Usage
const errorTracker = new ErrorTracker();

// Wrap API calls with error tracking
try {
  const result = await chat.sendMessage("Hello!", "friend");
} catch (error) {
  errorTracker.trackError(error, {
    action: 'send_message',
    personality: 'friend',
    messageLength: 6
  });

  // Handle error...
}

Best Practices

Always implement error boundaries in your UI to prevent crashes.

Provide user-friendly error messages instead of raw API errors.

Implement graceful degradation when services are unavailable.

Log errors for debugging but don’t expose sensitive information.

Use exponential backoff for retry logic to avoid overwhelming services.

Monitor error rates and implement circuit breakers for resilience.

Getting Started

Core API

Tools

Personalities

Reference

Error Handling

Error Handling

Error Response Format

HTTP Status Codes

Common Error Codes

API Errors

Speech-to-Text Errors

Error Handling Strategies

Basic Error Handling

Exponential Backoff

Circuit Breaker Pattern

Comprehensive Error Handler

Error Monitoring

Error Tracking

Best Practices

Getting Started

Core API

Tools

Personalities

Reference

​Error Handling

​Error Response Format

​HTTP Status Codes

​Common Error Codes

​API Errors

​Speech-to-Text Errors

​Error Handling Strategies

​Basic Error Handling

​Exponential Backoff

​Circuit Breaker Pattern

​Comprehensive Error Handler

​Error Monitoring

​Error Tracking

​Best Practices

Error Handling

Error Response Format

HTTP Status Codes

Common Error Codes

API Errors

Speech-to-Text Errors

Error Handling Strategies

Basic Error Handling

Exponential Backoff

Circuit Breaker Pattern

Comprehensive Error Handler

Error Monitoring

Error Tracking

Best Practices