wtfutil/wtf · error

%s

Error message

%s

What it means

apiRequest in the HackerNews module returns the raw HTTP status line (e.g. '503 Service Unavailable') as the error whenever the API responds with a status outside 200-299. It is a generic transport-level failure guard: the request completed, but the server rejected it. The body is discarded, so the real reason (if any) is only in the status code.

Solutions

1. Check the error message for the status code and retry with backoff for 429/5xx
2. Verify the client's base URL / endpoint configuration is correct
3. Check network connectivity and any proxy settings
4. Confirm the upstream service status before further debugging

msgs, err := widget.GetMessages(room)
if err != nil {
    log.Printf("HN api error (check status in msg): %v", err)
    return // keep last known data, retry later
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any GetMessages or GetRoom call where the HN/Firebase-backed endpoint returns a 4xx/5xx status: rate limiting (429), server errors (5xx), wrong/redirected URL, or a proxy returning 404/403.

Common situations: HackerNews/Firebase API outage or throttling under heavy polling, corporate proxy intercepting requests, misconfigured base URL pointing to a wrong host, or transient DNS/network failures surfacing as gateway 502/504.

Related errors

• %s
• unexpected status from DEV.to API
• errors.New(hibpErr.Message)
• errors.New(msg.Msg)
• executing request

AI-assisted analysis of wtfutil/wtf@bb838c1ccb (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/611d2f2467db1a5d. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/hackernews/client.go:70

	apiEndpoint = "https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/"
)

func apiRequest(path string) ([]byte, error) {
	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", apiEndpoint+path+".json", http.NoBody)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	httpClient := &http.Client{}
	resp, err := httpClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()

	if resp.StatusCode < 200 || resp.StatusCode > 299 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s", resp.Status)
	}

	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return body, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to bb838c1ccb)