Status Code Best Practices 🏆

Follow these patterns to use status codes effectively in your APIs.

One Code Per Method

@app.get("/items/{item_id}", status_code=200)  # ✓ Explicit
async def get_item(item_id: int):
    return item

@app.post("/items", status_code=201)  # ✓ Resource created
async def create_item(item: Item):
    return item

@app.delete("/items/{item_id}", status_code=204)  # ✓ No content
async def delete_item(item_id: int):
    return None

Error Handling Pattern

@app.get("/items/{item_id}")
async def get_item(item_id: int):
    item = db.get(item_id)

    # Check for errors first
    if not item:
        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Not found")

    # Return success
    return item

Include Error Details

@app.post("/users")
async def create_user(user: User):
    if db.user_exists(user.email):
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=409,
            detail="User with this email already exists"
        )
    return db.create(user)

Consistent Patterns

Always use the same codes for similar operations across your API.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• ✅ One status code per endpoint method

• ✅ Include helpful error messages

• ✅ Be consistent across similar endpoints

• ✅ Use standard codes for standard operations