What 418 means
An April Fools' joke from RFC 2324 (1998). It isn't a real error, but some sites return it to block bots or as an Easter egg, and RFC 9110 reserves the code so it's never reused.
Common causes
- An Easter egg, or a server using it to reject unwanted requests or scrapers.
How to fix it
If you're calling an API
- If an API sends it seriously, you're probably being blocked; check rate limits and your User-Agent.
If you run the server
- Use a real status (403, 429) for blocking.
Should you retry?
No.
Example response
HTTP/1.1 418 I'm a teapot
Content-Type: application/problem+json
{
"type": "about:blank",
"title": "I'm a teapot",
"status": 418,
"detail": "The server refuses to brew coffee because it's a teapot."
}Defined in: RFC 2324 (joke), reserved in RFC 9110. 418 is a client error: change the request before retrying.
Debugging an API call? Convert your request with the cURL converter, check the response with the JSON formatter, or see whether the API is down on its status page.