instructure/canvas-lms · error · RuntimeError

Error retrieving export state for Outcomes Service: #

Error message

Error retrieving export state for Outcomes Service: #{response.body}

What it means

export_completed? raises this when the outcomes service responds with a non-2xx status while polling export state, embedding the response body. It means the state poll itself failed, not that the export failed.

Solutions

Inspect response body in the message (401/404/500 etc.) and fix auth or URL accordingly
Verify the export_id and course are correct for the configured outcomes service
Check/refresh headers_for JWT generation
Retry the poll after service recovery

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Try / catch

begin
  done = MigrationService.export_completed?(export_data)
rescue RuntimeError => e
  raise unless e.message.start_with?('Error retrieving export state')
  attempts += 1
  retry if attempts < 3 && e.message.include?('50')
  Canvas::Errors.capture(e)
end

Prevention

Handle 401 by refreshing JWT before re-polling
Cap poll duration to stay within token lifetime
Log response bodies to distinguish auth vs outage

When it happens

Trigger: GET to /api/content_exports/:id returns 4xx/5xx — expired/invalid JWT in headers_for, unknown export_id, or the service being down/erroring.

Common situations: Token expiry during long polls; export id stale or deleted; outcomes service outage or wrong URL configuration.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API error: {status}" and "HTTP 401/403/404/429/5xx" errors: non-2xx HTTP responses explained — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of instructure/canvas-lms@1c9f0bb801 (2026-09-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/02812208c8a6c21b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at app/models/outcomes_service/migration_service.rb:72

      def export_completed?(export_data)
        content_export_url = "#{OutcomesService::Service.url(export_data[:course])}/api/content_exports/#{export_data[:export_id]}"
        response = CanvasHttp.get(
          content_export_url,
          headers_for(export_data[:course], "content_migration.export", id: export_data[:export_id])
        )
        if /^2/.match?(response.code.to_s)
          json = JSON.parse(response.body)
          case json["state"]
          when "completed"
            true
          when "failed"
            raise "Content Export for Outcomes Service failed"
          else
            false
          end
        else
          raise "Error retrieving export state for Outcomes Service: #{response.body}"
        end
      end

      def retrieve_export(export_data)
        content_export_url = "#{OutcomesService::Service.url(export_data[:course])}/api/content_exports/#{export_data[:export_id]}"
        response = CanvasHttp.get(
          content_export_url,
          headers_for(export_data[:course], "content_migration.export", id: export_data[:export_id])
        )
        if /^2/.match?(response.code.to_s)
          json = JSON.parse(response.body)
          json["data"]
        else
          raise "Error retrieving export for Outcomes Service: #{response.body}"
        end
      end

      def send_imported_content(course, content_migration, imported_content)

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