Status Codes

HTTP status codes are three-digit numbers sent by the server in response to a client's request. They provide a quick and standardized way to communicate the result of the request. It's essential to use the correct status codes in your API responses to provide clear feedback to the client. The codes are grouped into five classes: 1xx (Informational): The request was received, continuing process. These are rare in typical web development. 2xx (Success): The request was successfully received, understood, and accepted. Common codes include `200 OK` (the standard for successful GET requests), `201 Created` (used after a successful POST request that creates a new resource), and `204 No Content` (the request was successful, but there is no content to send back, often used for successful DELETE requests). 3xx (Redirection): Further action needs to be taken by the user agent to fulfill the request. `301 Moved Permanently` and `302 Found` are common. 4xx (Client Error): The request contains bad syntax or cannot be fulfilled. This indicates an error on the client's side. The most famous is `404 Not Found`. Other important ones are `400 Bad Request` (the server cannot process the request due to a client error, like malformed JSON), `401 Unauthorized` (the client is not authenticated), and `403 Forbidden` (the client is authenticated but does not have permission to access the resource). 5xx (Server Error): The server failed to fulfill an apparently valid request. This indicates a problem on the server. `500 Internal Server Error` is a generic code for an unexpected server-side issue.