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Exceptions - HTTPException and WebSocketException¶

These are the exceptions that you can raise to show errors to the client.

When you raise an exception, as would happen with normal Python, the rest of the execution is aborted. This way you can raise these exceptions from anywhere in the code to abort a request and show the error to the client.

You can use:

  • HTTPException
  • WebSocketException

These exceptions can be imported directly from fastapi:

from fastapi import HTTPException, WebSocketException
HTTPException(status_code, detail=None, headers=None)

Bases: HTTPException

An HTTP exception you can raise in your own code to show errors to the client.

This is for client errors, invalid authentication, invalid data, etc. Not for server errors in your code.

Read more about it in the FastAPI docs for Handling Errors.

from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException

app = FastAPI()

items = {"foo": "The Foo Wrestlers"}

@app.get("/items/{item_id}")
async def read_item(item_id: str):
    if item_id not in items:
        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Item not found")
    return {"item": items[item_id]}
PARAMETER DESCRIPTION
status_code HTTP status code to send to the client. Read more about it in the FastAPI docs for Handling Errors TYPE: int
detail Any data to be sent to the client in the detail key of the JSON response. Read more about it in the FastAPI docs for Handling Errors TYPE: Any DEFAULT: None
headers Any headers to send to the client in the response. Read more about it in the FastAPI docs for Handling Errors TYPE: Mapping[str, str] | None DEFAULT: None
Source code in fastapi/exceptions.py
def __init__(
    self,
    status_code: Annotated[
        int,
        Doc(
            """
            HTTP status code to send to the client.

            Read more about it in the
            [FastAPI docs for Handling Errors](../tutorial/handling-errors.md#use-httpexception)
            """
        ),
    ],
    detail: Annotated[
        Any,
        Doc(
            """
            Any data to be sent to the client in the `detail` key of the JSON
            response.

            Read more about it in the
            [FastAPI docs for Handling Errors](../tutorial/handling-errors.md#use-httpexception)
            """
        ),
    ] = None,
    headers: Annotated[
        Mapping[str, str] | None,
        Doc(
            """
            Any headers to send to the client in the response.

            Read more about it in the
            [FastAPI docs for Handling Errors](../tutorial/handling-errors.md#add-custom-headers)

            """
        ),
    ] = None,
) -> None:
    super().__init__(status_code=status_code, detail=detail, headers=headers)
status_code = status_code
detail = detail
headers = headers
WebSocketException(code, reason=None)

Bases: WebSocketException

A WebSocket exception you can raise in your own code to show errors to the client.

This is for client errors, invalid authentication, invalid data, etc. Not for server errors in your code.

Read more about it in the FastAPI docs for WebSockets.

from typing import Annotated

from fastapi import (
    Cookie,
    FastAPI,
    WebSocket,
    WebSocketException,
    status,
)

app = FastAPI()

@app.websocket("/items/{item_id}/ws")
async def websocket_endpoint(
    *,
    websocket: WebSocket,
    session: Annotated[str | None, Cookie()] = None,
    item_id: str,
):
    if session is None:
        raise WebSocketException(code=status.WS_1008_POLICY_VIOLATION)
    await websocket.accept()
    while True:
        data = await websocket.receive_text()
        await websocket.send_text(f"Session cookie is: {session}")
        await websocket.send_text(f"Message text was: {data}, for item ID: {item_id}")
PARAMETER DESCRIPTION
code A closing code from the valid codes defined in the specification. TYPE: int
reason The reason to close the WebSocket connection. It is UTF-8-encoded data. The interpretation of the reason is up to the application, it is not specified by the WebSocket specification. It could contain text that could be human-readable or interpretable by the client code, etc. TYPE: str | None DEFAULT: None
Source code in fastapi/exceptions.py
def __init__(
    self,
    code: Annotated[
        int,
        Doc(
            """
            A closing code from the
            [valid codes defined in the specification](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6455#section-7.4.1).
            """
        ),
    ],
    reason: Annotated[
        str | None,
        Doc(
            """
            The reason to close the WebSocket connection.

            It is UTF-8-encoded data. The interpretation of the reason is up to the
            application, it is not specified by the WebSocket specification.

            It could contain text that could be human-readable or interpretable
            by the client code, etc.
            """
        ),
    ] = None,
) -> None:
    super().__init__(code=code, reason=reason)
code = code
reason = reason or ''
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