santifer/career-ops · error

TIMEOUT

TIMEOUT

Error message

H-1B API timeout${label} after ${timeoutMs}ms: ${url}

What it means

requestJson in the h1b-sponsor plugin aborts the HTTP request after timeoutMs and throws a TIMEOUT-coded error naming the URL. The initial attempt is wrapped: an AbortError from the abort controller is converted into this timeout error (empty label), while any other error propagates unchanged. It signals the H-1B API endpoint did not respond within the configured budget.

Solutions

1. Increase the request timeout (timeoutMs option/env) for large or slow queries
2. Check network/proxy reachability of the API host from this machine
3. Retry the request — transient slowness is common; the plugin already retries once on rate-limit responses
4. Check the H-1B API status/outage before further calls
5. If behind a proxy, configure proxy env vars so the request is routed correctly instead of hanging

Example fix

// before
data = await requestJson(url, { timeoutMs: 3000 });
// after
try {
  data = await requestJson(url, { timeoutMs: 15000 });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.code === 'TIMEOUT') data = await requestJson(url, { timeoutMs: 30000 });
  else throw e;
}

// pre-check reachability before the real call
const ok = await fetch(BASE_URL, { method: 'HEAD', signal: AbortSignal.timeout(5000) })
  .then(r => r.ok).catch(() => false);
if (!ok) throw new Error('H-1B API unreachable, skip call');

const isApiTimeout = (e) => e?.code === 'TIMEOUT' || e?.name === 'AbortError';

try {
  data = await requestJson(url, { timeoutMs: 15000 });
} catch (e) {
  if (isApiTimeout(e)) return fallbackOrRetry(e, url);
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling any plugin API helper (e.g. fetching employer sponsorship data) where fetch does not complete within timeoutMs; the AbortController fires, attempt() rejects with AbortError, and timeoutError('') is thrown.

Common situations: Slow or rate-pressured H-1B API endpoints; offline/proxied environments where the connection hangs instead of failing fast; too-low timeoutMs for large queries; corporate firewalls silently dropping packets.

Understand the failure class

Background: Request timed out: what client-side request timeouts mean across libraries (Request timed out, TIMED_OUT, APITimeoutError) — this error's family across 39 libraries.

• Timeouts: ETIMEDOUT, deadlines, and hung requests — what actually expires when a request times out.

Related errors

• HTTP
• torre: unexpected API response — expected
• vc-portfolios: YC API fetch failed
• All active models failed. Last error
• API error: code=

AI-assisted analysis of santifer/career-ops@aac998c7ed (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b1151acb68315d73. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/h1b-sponsor/lib/api.mjs:298

    if (read.oversized) return { kind: 'toobig' };
    try {
      return { kind: 'json', body: JSON.parse(read.text) };
    } catch {
      return { kind: 'badjson' };
    }
  });

  const timeoutError = (label) => {
    const e = new Error(`H-1B API timeout${label} after ${timeoutMs}ms: ${url}`);
    e.code = 'TIMEOUT';
    return e;
  };

  let out;
  try {
    out = await attempt();
  } catch (err) {
    if (err && err.name === 'AbortError') throw timeoutError('');
    throw err;
  }

  if (out.kind === 'rate') {
    await sleep(Math.min(out.waitMs, MAX_RETRY_WAIT_MS));
    try {
      out = await attempt();
    } catch (err) {
      if (err && err.name === 'AbortError') throw timeoutError(' on retry');
      throw err;
    }
    if (out.kind === 'rate') {
      const e = new Error(`H-1B API rate limited: ${url}`);
      e.code = 'RATE_LIMIT';
      throw e;
    }
  }

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