REST API error response shape wizard
Six major conventions for how REST APIs return errors — RFC 9457
Problem Details, JSON:API, Google, Microsoft / OData, plain
{error, message}, and GraphQL for context. They overlap
partially and disagree on the details. This wizard picks the right one
for your situation, lays them all out side by side, and audits a pasted
error against them.
We’re opinionated: RFC 9457 Problem Details is the recommended default for new public REST APIs. Where the recommendation is contested, we show both sides honestly.
Modes
- Picker — three questions (REST or RPC-style? Public-facing or internal? Multiple errors per response?) and you land on a recommended format with rationale.
- Reference — each convention with a real example payload, the fields it expects, who uses it, and what it’s good and bad at.
- Audit — paste a JSON error response, get a report on which convention it most resembles and what’s missing or inconsistent (no machine-readable code? no documentation URL? mixes message and validation details?).