Unlike REST APIs, GraphQL servers don’t use HTTP status codes to indicate unsuccessful requests.
Instead, the GraphQL response body includes an array of
errors when an operation fails.The SEEK API uses four error codes to classify the type of error that occurred.
Depending on the type of error there will be further information in the error’s
message and extensions.The SEEK API’s error messages are safe to expose to SEEK hirers.
However, some errors responses can indicate a problem with your SEEK API integration that’s not actionable by an end user.
If you decide to hide those error messages, your software should still log the full message to support debugging issues.
An
UNAUTHENTICATED error indicates a problem with the access token included in the request.
More details will be available in the error’s message.- An access token wasn’t included in the request’s
Authorizationheader. - The access token has expired. This can happen if the access token is used after the
expires_infrom the token response. - A Playground access token was used to access live data or vice versa.
JSON
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{"errors": [
{
"message": "Public test partner token is expired",
"locations": [
{
"line": 2,
"column": 3
}
],
"path": ["candidateProfile"],
"extensions": {
"code": "UNAUTHENTICATED"
}
}
]
}If you receive an
UNAUTHENTICATED error due to an expired access token as per the example above,
your software may request a new access token and use it to automatically retry the request.
Limit such behaviour to a single retry;
if your software continues to receive the same error with a newly issued token then you have likely misconfigured the request and further retries will not help.You may be able to customise your GraphQL or HTTP client library to implement a retry policy.
Ensure that your retry policy takes the error code in the response into account,
as retrying a request with a different error like
FORBIDDEN is unlikely to produce a different result.A
FORBIDDEN error indicates a valid access token was received but there was a problem authorising the operation.
More details will be available in the error’s message.It’s possible to have access to an object but not all of its nested objects or fields.
For example, you can query a
PositionProfile for application export but wouldn’t be able to query its branding without an additional JobPosting relationship.
To help debugging these situations the error’s path will indicate which field encountered the FORBIDDEN error.Requests that fail authorisation should not be automatically retried.
- SEEK has not configured a relationship between you and the SEEK hirer.You can view a list of your SEEK hirers and their relationships on the Developer Dashboard’s hirers page .
- The SEEK hirer’s account has been disabled.
- A browser token was used without the scope required for the operation.
- You used a mutation against Playground data.The Playground returns
FORBIDDENerrors after validating the mutation’s input. You can use this feature to test input validation in the Playground environment.
QueryVariablesResult
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query ($id: String!) {
# Hirer has been disabled
hiringOrganization(id: $id) {
name
}
}A
BAD_USER_INPUT error indicates the operation failed input validation.
A top-level summary of the validation failure will be available in the error’s message.Some operations support additional field-level messages in the
invalidFields map.
Its keys are JSON Pointers to the invalid fields in the operation’s arguments.
These map to a message describing why the field failed validation.Requests that fail validation should not be automatically retried.
- The input was the correct type for the GraphQL schema but violated a more specific constraint.
- A mutation’s input referenced an object that doesn’t exist.
- The operation exceeded the SEEK API’s query complexity limit.An operation’s complexity is calculated based on the estimated size of its response. Overly complex operations are rejected before they’re executed to prevent denial of service attacks .
MutationVariablesResult
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mutation ($input: CreateWebhookSubscriptionInput!) {
createWebhookSubscription(input: $input) {
... on CreateWebhookSubscriptionPayload_Success {
webhookSubscription {
id {
value
}
}
}
... on CreateWebhookSubscriptionPayload_Conflict {
conflictingWebhookSubscription {
id {
value
}
}
}
}
}An
INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR indicates an unexpected failure occurred while processing the request.Error details are omitted from the response to avoid exposing sensitive information about SEEK’s systems.
However, the message will contain a reference code SEEK can use to find more details in our internal logs.
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{"errors": [
{
"message": "Oops. Something went wrong. If you continue to experience issues, contact support and quote error reference '112c-4edf-af8e'.",
"path": ["positionProfile"],
"extensions": {
"code": "INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR"
}
}
]
}Your software should have a reasonable retry policy on
INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR errors for robustness .
This increases the likelihood that your integration will remain operational through transient failures in the SEEK API.
You may also time out and retry a request if it has taken too long for the SEEK API to respond.Requests that carry a mutation must be idempotent to prevent retries from unintentionally creating or modifying multiple objects.
For example, you must use the same
idempotencyId when retrying a job posting mutation to ensure that only one job ad is created.You may be able to customise your GraphQL or HTTP client library to implement a retry policy.
Ensure that your retry policy takes the error code in the response into account,
as retrying a request with a different error like
FORBIDDEN is unlikely to produce a different result.The policy behaviour may differ based on the use case.
A shorter request timeout and backoff may be appropriate a high-volume interactive hirer experience like location suggest.
On the other hand,
a back-end process like exporting applications could have a longer delay between retries and send persistent failures to a dead letter queue for manual reprocessing once the SEEK API has restored service.
Your software should cap the number of request retries and implement exponential backoff and jitter as best practices.
By progressively increasing the delay between retries and introducing a random factor to the calculation,
you space out your requests and avoid overwhelming the SEEK API, increasing the likelihood that your requests will be served sooner.
Generally speaking, you should not retry a request more than 3 times.
Contact SEEK if you need to discuss the specifics of your retry policy.
In addition to the four error codes documented above, you may receive other error codes.
The
GRAPHQL_PARSE_FAILED or GRAPHQL_VALIDATION_FAILED error codes indicate a problem with GraphQL syntax or schema usage with your software, and generally should only occur during development.