API · 2026-11-10

DeepSeek API Error Codes A Practical Troubleshooting Guide

Why this guide now

Two recent changes make error handling more relevant. DeepSeek's Search and Fetch APIs started billing on November 1 at 5 yuan per 1000 successful requests, so 402 encounters will climb for mixed workloads. Off-peak pricing keeps shifting call patterns too, and request spikes raise the odds of hitting 429. This page compiles the seven error codes currently listed in the official docs, plus retry logic you can copy as-is.

The seven codes one by one

The official documentation splits them like this. 400 invalid format, the request body does not parse and the error message tells you what to fix. 401 authentication failed, check the API key. 402 insufficient balance, top up in the console and retry. 422 invalid parameter, the body failed validation. 429 rate limit exceeded, lower concurrency or wait before retrying. 500 server error, retrying from your side is fine. 503 server overloaded, the service is briefly busy.

Error responses share one JSON shape. An error object carries message, type and code. Log all three. Gateways and proxies can inject their own statuses in production, so read the HTTP status together with the body when you debug.

Retry logic in code

Retry 429 and 5xx automatically with exponential backoff plus jitter, so bursts do not return in lockstep.

import time, random

def with_retry(fn, max_tries=6):
    for i in range(max_tries):
        try:
            return fn()
        except (RateLimitError, ServerError):
            pause = min(60, (2 ** i) + random.random())
            time.sleep(pause)
    raise RuntimeError("retries exhausted")

Two details deserve their own mention. Do not blind-retry 402. A balance pre-check that fires an alert at a low watermark beats hammering the API. And stretch the pause for 503. Retrying hard while the service is overloaded slows recovery for everyone.

Where to read more

Limit values track your account tier. Our rate limits explainer covers production handling, and the access quick reference lists model names, off-peak pricing and concurrency quotas. Using the newly billed search endpoints? The Search and Fetch API guide has endpoints and billing details. This article is compiled from publicly available online sources.