wtfutil/wtf · error

executing request: %w

Error message

executing request: %w

What it means

FetchArticles wraps errors from c.httpClient.Do(req) as 'executing request'. This is a transport-level failure: DNS resolution, TCP connect, TLS handshake, timeout, or a canceled context. The request was built fine, but it never got an HTTP response.

Source

Thrown at modules/devto/client.go:69

	if username != "" {
		q.Set("username", username)
	}
	if state != "" {
		q.Set("state", state)
	}
	if perPage > 0 {
		q.Set("per_page", fmt.Sprintf("%d", perPage))
	}
	u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, u.String(), nil)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("creating request: %w", err)
	}

	resp, err := c.httpClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("executing request: %w", err)
	}
	defer resp.Body.Close()

	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected status %d from DEV.to API", resp.StatusCode)
	}

	var articles []Article
	if err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&articles); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("decoding response: %w", err)
	}

	return articles, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to bb838c1ccb)

Solutions

1. Check basic connectivity to https://dev.to (curl https://dev.to/api/articles)
2. Configure HTTP(S)_PROXY env vars if behind a corporate proxy
3. Increase the http.Client timeout or verify ctx deadlines aren't too aggressive
4. Retry with backoff on transient network errors

Example fix

// before
client := NewClient("")
client.httpClient = &http.Client{} // no timeout; hangs then fails
// after
client.httpClient = &http.Client{Timeout: 10 * time.Second}
articles, err := client.FetchArticles(ctx, tag, user, state, perPage)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("devto fetch: %w", err)
}

// optional pre-check before API calls
resp, err := http.Get("https://dev.to/api/articles?per_page=1")
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("dev.to unreachable: %w", err)
}
resp.Body.Close()

articles, err := client.FetchArticles(ctx, tag, user, state, perPage)
if err != nil {
    var netErr net.Error
    if errors.As(err, &netErr) && netErr.Timeout() {
        // retry with backoff
    }
    return nil, err
}

When it happens

Trigger: httpClient.Do fails during Refresh or a test — no network connectivity, DNS failure for dev.to, TLS errors, client timeout exceeded, or ctx canceled before completion.

Common situations: Offline laptop or blocked corporate proxy; missing HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY config; too-short custom http.Client.Timeout; caller canceling the context mid-request; dev.to outage.

Related errors

• creating request: %w
• unexpected status %d from DEV.to API
• %s
• %s
• yfinance: unexpected status %d for symbol %q

AI-assisted analysis of wtfutil/wtf@bb838c1ccb (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/14ab030bee87e403. Report an issue: GitHub.