What shape do Azure REST API errors have?

Azure REST APIs return a JSON envelope of the form { error: { code, message, details } }. The code is a stable machine-readable string you should branch on, while message is a human-readable description that can change. Some services nest additional details in the details array.

What causes an AuthorizationFailed error?

AuthorizationFailed (403) from Azure Resource Manager means the calling principal is authenticated but has no RBAC role granting the requested action at that scope. Assign the appropriate built-in or custom role at the resource, resource group, or subscription level.

How do I handle Azure throttling?

Throttling appears as TooManyRequests (429) on ARM or RequestRateTooLarge on Cosmos DB, and overload as ServiceUnavailable (503). All are transient. Respect the Retry-After header (or x-ms-retry-after-ms for Cosmos) and use exponential backoff before retrying.

Why do I get MissingSubscriptionRegistration?

MissingSubscriptionRegistration (409) means the resource provider you are using is not yet registered for the subscription. Register it once with az provider register --namespace Microsoft. , then retry the operation.

Is anything I search uploaded?

No. The full error reference and the search run entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Azure Error Codes — Gera Tools

This is a searchable reference for Azure REST API error codes across the platform’s core services — Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Storage (Blob), Compute, Key Vault, Cosmos DB and Azure SQL. Each row gives the error code, the originating service, the HTTP status it ships with, and the most common cause, so you can quickly distinguish an auth failure from a quota limit or a missing resource.

How it works

Azure REST APIs return errors in a consistent JSON envelope:

{ "error": { "code": "AuthorizationFailed", "message": "...", "details": [] } }

The code string is stable and meant for programmatic handling, while message is descriptive text for humans. Branch on code. Many codes map to the same HTTP status — ResourceNotFound, BlobNotFound and SubscriptionNotFound are all 404 — so the code field is what tells you which kind of “not found” you hit.

Errors cluster into a few families: authentication (InvalidAuthenticationToken, ExpiredAuthenticationToken) at 401, authorization (AuthorizationFailed, Key Vault Forbidden) at 403, conflict and quota (Conflict, QuotaExceeded, OperationNotAllowed) at 409, and throttling/availability (TooManyRequests, RequestRateTooLarge, ServiceUnavailable) at 429/503. The last group is transient and retryable.

Tips and example

Drive retries off the throttling and availability codes, and respect the server’s hint:

TooManyRequests (429)        → wait Retry-After seconds, then retry
RequestRateTooLarge (Cosmos) → wait x-ms-retry-after-ms, then retry
ServiceUnavailable (503)     → exponential backoff + retry
AuthorizationFailed (403)    → assign an RBAC role (terminal)
QuotaExceeded (409)          → request a quota increase (terminal)
ResourceNotFound (404)       → wrong id/scope (terminal)

A 412 such as ConditionNotMet or LeaseIdMissing on Storage is an optimistic-concurrency signal — your ETag precondition failed, or a blob lease is held — and is handled in application logic rather than by blind retry. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Azure Error Codes

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How it works

Tips and example