Errors and Status Codes

Reviewed by Proof · Updated

Definition

Errors and status codes are the HTTP codes and bodies luv13 returns when a request can't be served, and what each one means you should do.

Key takeaways

  • A missing or wrong API key returns HTTP 401 with a JSON body whose error.type is invalid_auth.
  • A wrong path returns HTTP 404 and a wrong method returns HTTP 405. Both bodies are HTML, not JSON, so don't assume every error parses as JSON.
  • HTTP 522 comes from Cloudflare and means luv13's servers couldn't be reached. Wait and retry.
  • When capacity is full, requests queue or fail. Retry with backoff; if one model is unavailable, the error names it and you can switch to another id.
  • Failed or empty calls aren't charged (per luv13.ai/docs).

What each code means

All of these were seen live on 2026-09-30.

CodeBodyCauseWhat to do
401JSON, invalid_authNo key, a wrong key, or the key not sent as Authorization: BearerSend Authorization: Bearer $LUV13_API_KEY with a valid key
404HTML "Not Found"Path doesn't exist: missing /v1, a trailing slash such as /v1/models/, or an endpoint luv13 doesn't serveCheck the URL against Endpoints
405HTML "Method Not Allowed"Right path, wrong method, such as GET /v1/chat/completionsUse POST for chat completions
522Cloudflare pageluv13's origin servers are unreachableRetry later with backoff; see Health Checks

The 401 body

{"error":{"code":401,"message":"unauthorized","type":"invalid_auth"}}

It has three fields inside error: code (the HTTP status as a number), message and type. The key is checked before the body is read, so without a valid key even a malformed body returns 401. A 401 therefore doesn't tell you whether the rest of your request is correct.

The documented way to send the key is the Authorization: Bearer header. Other headers, such as x-api-key, aren't documented by luv13, so don't rely on them.

Handling errors in code

  • Read the status code first, then try to parse JSON. A 404 or 405 body is HTML.
  • Don't retry a 401, 404 or 405. The same request will fail the same way.
  • Retry 522 and capacity errors with exponential backoff. See Retrying Requests.
  • If an error names a model as unavailable, switch ids. See Model Fallback.

The OpenAI SDKs turn the 401 into an AuthenticationError (Python) or an error with status 401 (Node.js), with the JSON above as the error body.

Check it yourself

curl -s -w "\nHTTP %{http_code}\n" https://api.luv13.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "luv13/glm-5.3-flash", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "ping"}]}'

With no key, this prints the 401 body above and HTTP 401.

For limits, see Limits.