jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

Reuters search API failed (${status})

Error message

Reuters search API failed (${status})

What it means

CommandExecutionError thrown when the in-page fetch completed but result.ok !== true, meaning the Reuters search API answered with a non-success response (or no upstream response at all). The message embeds 'HTTP <status>[ <statusText>]' when a status is available, or 'no upstream response' when the request never reached a server (network failure, blocked request, abort).

Source

Thrown at clis/reuters/search.js:48

        await page.wait(2);
        const result = await page.evaluate(buildSearchScript(query, limit));
        if (result?.error) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError(`Reuters search failed inside the page: ${result.error}`);
        }
        if (!result || typeof result !== 'object') {
            throw new CommandExecutionError('Reuters search API returned an unreadable response');
        }
        if (isAuthStatus(result.status) || looksAuthWallText(result.textPreview)) {
            throw new AuthRequiredError(
                'www.reuters.com',
                `Reuters search requires an accessible Reuters browser session or completed human verification${result.status ? ` (HTTP ${result.status})` : ''}`,
            );
        }
        if (result.ok !== true) {
            const status = Number.isFinite(result.status) && result.status > 0
                ? `HTTP ${result.status}${result.statusText ? ` ${result.statusText}` : ''}`
                : 'no upstream response';
            throw new CommandExecutionError(`Reuters search API failed (${status})`);
        }
        if (!result.body) {
            const detail = result.parseError ? `: ${result.parseError}` : '';
            throw new CommandExecutionError(
                `Reuters search returned a non-JSON body${detail}`,
                'Open www.reuters.com in your browser and clear any challenge before retrying.',
            );
        }
        const rows = mapSearchArticles(result.body, limit);
        if (!rows.length) {
            throw new EmptyResultError('reuters search', `No articles matched "${query}". Try broadening the query.`);
        }
        return rows;
    },
});

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Re-run the command — transient 5xx or rate limiting often clears on retry (add a delay to avoid 429).
2. Check the reported HTTP status: 429 means slow down; 404 suggests Reuters changed the API path and the injected script needs updating.
3. Complete the Datadome challenge / refresh the session if the block is anti-bot related.
4. Verify network connectivity in the browser session (the 'no upstream response' case).

Example fix

// before: immediate retry hammering a 429
for (const q of queries) await cli.run('reuters search', { query: q });
// after: backoff on failure
try {
  const rows = await cli.run('reuters search', { query: q });
} catch (e) {
  if (/HTTP 429/.test(e.message)) await sleep(30000);
}

// check reachability of the endpoint surface before batch calls
const res = await page.evaluate(() => fetch(location.origin, { method: 'HEAD' }).then(r => r.status).catch(() => 0));
if (!res) throw new Error('No upstream connectivity from the browser session');

function hasUpstreamFailure(result) {
  return typeof result === 'object' && result !== null && result.ok !== true &&
    (typeof result.status !== 'number' || result.status >= 400);
}

try {
  const rows = await cli.run('reuters search', { query });
} catch (e) {
  const m = e.message.match(/HTTP (\d+)/);
  if (!m) throw e;
  const status = Number(m[1]);
  if (status === 429 || status >= 500) {
    await sleep(30_000);
    return cli.run('reuters search', { query });
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: result.ok is false because the articles-by-search-v2 fetch returned 4xx/5xx, was blocked by Datadome at the network layer, or the fetch rejected so no upstream response exists.

Common situations: Reuters API returning 5xx during incidents; rate limiting (429); Datadome blocking the request server-side; temporary network outage inside the browser tab; Reuters changing the endpoint path so it 404s.

Related errors

• 12306 queryByTrainNo returned non-JSON body
• 12306 ${endpoint} returned non-JSON body
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• archive snapshots failed: HTTP ${resp.status}

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5a1102de8713afb1. Report an issue: GitHub.