What causes "request error: %s" in jeessy2/ddns-go?

Read the Detail text embedded in the error — it names the exact API rejection

request error: %s

Error message

request error: %s

What it means

dns/spaceship.go request() unmarshals the response into ErrorResponse and returns "request error: %s" with the provider's Detail field whenever the Spaceship API status is neither 200 nor 204. This is the library's wrapper for any non-success Spaceship HTTP response from createRecord, getRecords, or deleteRecords.

Source

Thrown at dns/spaceship.go:104

	}

	type DataItem struct {
		Field   string `json:"field"`
		Details string `json:"details"`
	}

	type ErrorResponse struct {
		Detail string      `json:"detail"`
		Data   *[]DataItem `json:"data,omitempty"`
	}

	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK && resp.StatusCode != http.StatusNoContent {
		var e ErrorResponse
		err = json.Unmarshal(response, &e)
		if err != nil {
			return
		}
		err = fmt.Errorf("request error: %s", e.Detail)
		return
	}

	return
}

func (s *Spaceship) createRecord(recordType string, ip string, domain *config.Domain) (err error) {
	type Item struct {
		Type    string `json:"type"`
		Address string `json:"address"`
		Name    string `json:"name"`
		TTL     int    `json:"ttl"`
	}

	type Payload struct {
		Force bool   `json:"force"`
		Items []Item `json:"items"`
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5874c2e666)

Solutions

Read the Detail text embedded in the error — it names the exact API rejection
Verify Spaceship API key and secret are set and not expired
Confirm the domain exists in your Spaceship account
Check record payload fields (type/name/address) against current Spaceship API docs

Example fix

// before
err := provider.createRecord(domain, ip)
// after
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unauthorized") {
	log.Fatal("check SPACESHIP_API_KEY / SPACESHIP_API_SECRET")
} else if err != nil {
	log.Printf("Spaceship rejected: %v", err)
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

for _, k := range []string{"SPACESHIP_API_KEY", "SPACESHIP_API_SECRET"} {
	if os.Getenv(k) == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("missing %s", k)
	}
}
if domain.DomainName == "" {
	return errors.New("spaceship: domain required")
}

Type guard

// parse the wrapped Detail for classification
func detailOf(err error) string {
	s := errString(err)
	if strings.HasPrefix(s, "request error: ") {
		return strings.TrimPrefix(s, "request error: ")
	}
	return ""
}

Try / catch

if err != nil {
	switch d := detailOf(err); {
	case strings.Contains(d, "auth") || strings.Contains(d, "key"):
		log.Fatal("spaceship: check API key/secret")
	case strings.Contains(d, "rate"):
		time.Sleep(time.Minute) // back off and retry
	default:
		return err
	}
}

Prevention

Store Spaceship credentials via env vars, never in code
Validate the domain exists in the account during setup
Respect rate limits; add backoff on 429-style Details

When it happens

Trigger: createRecord, getRecords, or deleteRecords calls where the Spaceship API returns 4xx/5xx: invalid API key/secret, unauthenticated request, unknown domain, validation failure on record fields, or rate limiting.

Common situations: Misconfigured SPACESHIP_API_KEY/SECRET; domain not registered in the Spaceship account; sending more records than the API accepts per request; Spaceship API schema changes altering the Detail payload.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jeessy2/ddns-go@5874c2e666 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6cff2800ff59de4e. Report an issue: GitHub.