nsqio/nsq · error

got response %s %q

Error message

got response %s %q

What it means

internal/http_api's Client.GETV1 (api_request.go) is the helper nsqadmin, nsqlookupd and the apps use to GET an nsqd/nsqlookupd HTTP API endpoint (e.g. /info, /stats, /lookup) with timeouts and negotiate-v1. On any response whose status is not exactly 200 it returns 'got response %s %q' with the HTTP status line and the (possibly empty) response body; one special case is handled internally: a 403 over http triggers an https retry via the https_port advertised by the daemon. Non-200 therefore means the daemon answered but rejected the request.

Source

Thrown at internal/http_api/api_request.go:81

	}

	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	closeErr := resp.Body.Close()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if closeErr != nil {
		return closeErr
	}
	if resp.StatusCode != 200 {
		if resp.StatusCode == 403 && !strings.HasPrefix(endpoint, "https") {
			endpoint, err = httpsEndpoint(endpoint, body)
			if err != nil {
				return err
			}
			goto retry
		}
		return fmt.Errorf("got response %s %q", resp.Status, body)
	}
	err = json.Unmarshal(body, &v)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	return nil
}

// PostV1 is a helper function to perform a V1 HTTP request
// and parse our NSQ daemon's expected response format, with deadlines.
func (c *Client) POSTV1(endpoint string, data url.Values, v interface{}) error {
retry:
	var reqBody io.Reader
	if data != nil {
		js, err := json.Marshal(data)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal POST data to endpoint: %v", endpoint)

View on GitHub (pinned to 85cf10c09c)

Solutions

  1. Replay the exact URL with curl from the nsqadmin host: 'curl -i http://nsqd:4151/info' — it must return 200 with JSON.
  2. Fix the address/port in --lookupd-http-address / --nsqd-http-address (HTTP port, default 4151 for nsqd, 4161 for lookupd).
  3. If nsqd runs TLS-only or requires client certs, configure the http-client TLS options (and note 403+http auto-retries https only when the daemon advertises https_port).
  4. When auth is enabled, provision nsqadmin's allowed auth secret / client cert so requests are authorized.

Example fix

# before
nsqadmin --nsqd-http-address=10.0.0.1:4150
# got response "404 Not Found" "<html>..."  (4150 is the TCP port)

# after
nsqadmin --nsqd-http-address=10.0.0.1:4151
curl -i http://10.0.0.1:4151/info   # 200 OK application/json
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// before driving the UI/tools, verify each daemon answers 200 on its HTTP API
func nsqdAPIAlive(base string) error {
    c := &http.Client{Timeout: 2 * time.Second}
    resp, err := c.Get(base + "/info")
    if err != nil {
        return err
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()
    if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
        return fmt.Errorf("%s/info answered %d — fix address/auth before proceeding", base, resp.StatusCode)
    }
    return nil
}

Try / catch

// around http_api GETV1 callers: classify the response error instead of string-matching blindly
if err := client.GETV1(endpoint, &v); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "got response") {
        // daemon reachable but refused: log status+body, alert on 4xx config errors,
        // retry later on 5xx after the daemon recovers
        return classifyAndRetry(err)
    }
    return err // transport-level failure (timeout, refused) — different remediation
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Querying a wrong port (a non-NSQ HTTP server returning 404 with an HTML body), an nsqd endpoint that errors (500 on /stats under corruption), 401/403 when TLS-client-auth or auth is required and the client sent no credentials, or hitting an endpoint that moved. Used pervasively by nsqadmin pages and by nsq_to_nsq/nssql-style tools that create topics via /topic/create.

Common situations: nsqadmin configured with --nsqd-http-address pointing at the wrong port (e.g. the TCP 4150 instead of HTTP 4151); auth-enabled nsqd while nsqadmin lacks --http-client-auth-* / notification credentials; reverse proxy in front of nsqd returning 403 or 502 HTML that swallows the real status; version skew where an endpoint was removed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of nsqio/nsq@85cf10c09c (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c9e21a9be725f1a7. Report an issue: GitHub.