rest-graphql-debug

Debug REST API status codes by walking layers in order: connectivity, timeouts, TLS, authentication, request format, then response parsing. Use curl -v to inspect the full exchange and match the status code to the playbook checklist for 401, 403, 404, 422, 429, or 5xx.

GraphQL servers often return HTTP 200 even when the query fails, placing error details in the errors field of the response body. Always inspect the errors array regardless of status code and check each error's message and path fields.

Handle 429 responses with exponential backoff: read the Retry-After header when present, otherwise wait 2^attempt seconds between retries. Check X-RateLimit-* headers to understand your quota and cap retries at a fixed number of attempts.

This usually indicates a Content-Type and body mismatch: passing data= with a JSON string sends form-encoded data while the header claims JSON. Use requests.post(url, json=payload) so the library serializes the body and sets the header correctly.

Decode the JWT payload by splitting the token on dots, base64url-decoding the middle segment with padding correction, and reading the exp claim. Compare it against the current time to confirm whether a 401 is caused by token expiry.

Skip this layered API flow for UI rendering bugs, database query tuning, or DNS and firewall infrastructure problems, which should be escalated instead. It targets application-layer HTTP and GraphQL diagnosis, not frontend or infrastructure issues.