Salesloft common errors

SalesLoft Common Errors

Overview

Quick reference for the most common SalesLoft REST API v2 errors. All errors return JSON with a message field. Rate limiting uses a cost-based system (600 cost/minute).

Error Reference

401 Unauthorized -- Invalid or Expired Token

{ "error": "Not authorized", "error_description": "The access token is invalid" }

Causes: Token expired, revoked, or wrong environment key.

Fix:

// Check if token works
const { data } = await api.get('/me.json').catch(err => {
  if (err.response?.status === 401) {
    console.error('Token invalid. Refreshing...');
    return refreshAccessToken(storedRefreshToken);
  }
  throw err;
});

403 Forbidden -- Insufficient Scopes

{ "error": "Forbidden", "error_description": "Insufficient scope for this resource" }

Fix: Check app scopes in developer portal. Common issue: using user-level OAuth for team-level endpoints (cadences, team templates).

404 Not Found -- Wrong Endpoint or Deleted Resource

# Verify endpoint format -- all endpoints end with .json
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  https://api.salesloft.com/v2/people/12345.json
# NOT /people/12345 (missing .json suffix)

422 Unprocessable Entity -- Validation Errors

{
  "errors": [
    { "attribute": "email_address", "message": "is required" },
    { "attribute": "email_address", "message": "has already been taken" }
  ]
}

Common 422 causes:

Field	Error	Solution
email_address	required	Must include when creating a person
email_address	already taken	Use GET /people.json?email_addresses[]=x first
cadence_id	not active	Cadence must have current_state: 'active'
person_id	already enrolled	Check existing cadence memberships

429 Too Many Requests -- Rate Limit Exceeded

X-RateLimit-Limit-Per-Minute: 600
X-RateLimit-Remaining-Per-Minute: 0
Retry-After: 42

SalesLoft uses cost-based rate limiting:

• Default: each request costs 1 point
• Pages 101-150: 3 points per request
• Pages 151-250: 8 points per request
• Pages 251-500: 10 points per request
• Pages 501+: 30 points per request

// Auto-retry with Retry-After header
api.interceptors.response.use(undefined, async (error) => {
  if (error.response?.status === 429) {
    const wait = parseInt(error.response.headers['retry-after'] || '60');
    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, wait * 1000));
    return api.request(error.config);
  }
  throw error;
});

5xx Server Errors

Fix: Retry with exponential backoff. Check status.salesloft.com for outages.

Quick Diagnostic

# 1. Verify token
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $SALESLOFT_API_KEY" \
  https://api.salesloft.com/v2/me.json | jq '.data.email'

# 2. Check API status
curl -s https://status.salesloft.com/api/v2/status.json | jq '.status'

# 3. Test specific endpoint
curl -v -H "Authorization: Bearer $SALESLOFT_API_KEY" \
  'https://api.salesloft.com/v2/people.json?per_page=1'

# 4. Check rate limit remaining
curl -sI -H "Authorization: Bearer $SALESLOFT_API_KEY" \
  https://api.salesloft.com/v2/people.json | grep -i ratelimit

Error Handling

Status	Retryable	Action
401	No	Refresh token or re-authenticate
403	No	Update app scopes in developer portal
404	No	Check endpoint URL (must end in .json)
422	No	Fix request payload
429	Yes	Wait for Retry-After header value
500-503	Yes	Exponential backoff, check status page

Resources

• SalesLoft API Basics
• Rate Limits
• Status Page

Next Steps

For comprehensive debugging, see salesloft-debug-bundle.