ClickUp Common Errors

Overview

Reference for ClickUp API v2 errors. All errors return JSON with err (message) and optionally ECODE (error code).

Error Response Format

{
  "err": "Space not found",
  "ECODE": "ITEM_015"
}

HTTP Status Errors

400 Bad Request

Situation	Response	Fix
Missing required field	{"err": "Task name required"}	Include name in request body
Invalid field value	{"err": "Invalid priority"}	Priority must be 1-4 or null
Malformed JSON	{"err": "Unexpected token"}	Validate JSON before sending
Invalid custom field value	{"err": "Invalid value for field"}	Match value to field type

401 Unauthorized — OAuth Errors

ECODE	Cause	Solution
OAUTH_017	Token malformed or missing	Include Authorization: <token> header
OAUTH_023	Workspace not authorized for token	User must re-authorize workspace in OAuth flow
OAUTH_026	Token revoked by user	Generate new personal token or re-authenticate
OAUTH_027	Workspace not authorized	Re-authorize via OAuth, ensuring workspace scope
OAUTH_029-045	Various workspace auth failures	Re-run OAuth flow for the specific workspace

# Diagnose: verify your token works
curl -s -w "\nHTTP %{http_code}\n" \
  https://api.clickup.com/api/v2/user \
  -H "Authorization: $CLICKUP_API_TOKEN"

403 Forbidden

Situation	Fix
No access to space/folder/list	Verify user has access to that part of the hierarchy
Insufficient role permissions	Need admin role for destructive operations
Guest access limitation	Guests have restricted API access

404 Not Found

# Common causes: wrong ID, deleted resource, wrong hierarchy level
# Verify the resource exists:
curl -s https://api.clickup.com/api/v2/task/TASK_ID \
  -H "Authorization: $CLICKUP_API_TOKEN" | jq '.id, .name'

429 Rate Limited

Rate limits vary by plan (per token, per minute):

• Free/Unlimited/Business: 100 req/min
• Business Plus: 1,000 req/min
• Enterprise: 10,000 req/min

# Check rate limit headers on any response
curl -s -D - https://api.clickup.com/api/v2/user \
  -H "Authorization: $CLICKUP_API_TOKEN" 2>&1 | grep -i ratelimit

# Headers returned:
# X-RateLimit-Limit: 100
# X-RateLimit-Remaining: 95
# X-RateLimit-Reset: 1695000060  (Unix timestamp)

500/503 Server Errors

Check ClickUp Status Page first.

# Quick status check
curl -s https://status.clickup.com/api/v2/summary.json | \
  jq '.status.description'

Diagnostic Script

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== ClickUp API Diagnostics ==="

# 1. Auth check
echo -n "Auth: "
HTTP_CODE=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \
  https://api.clickup.com/api/v2/user \
  -H "Authorization: $CLICKUP_API_TOKEN")
[ "$HTTP_CODE" = "200" ] && echo "OK" || echo "FAILED ($HTTP_CODE)"

# 2. Rate limit check
echo -n "Rate limit remaining: "
curl -s -D - https://api.clickup.com/api/v2/user \
  -H "Authorization: $CLICKUP_API_TOKEN" 2>&1 | \
  grep "X-RateLimit-Remaining" | awk '{print $2}'

# 3. Workspace access
echo "Workspaces:"
curl -s https://api.clickup.com/api/v2/team \
  -H "Authorization: $CLICKUP_API_TOKEN" | jq -r '.teams[] | "  \(.id): \(.name)"'

Error Handler Pattern

async function handleClickUpError(response: Response): Promise<never> {
  const body = await response.json().catch(() => ({ err: 'Unknown' }));

  switch (response.status) {
    case 401:
      throw new Error(`Auth failed (${body.ECODE}): Re-check token or re-authorize`);
    case 429: {
      const resetAt = response.headers.get('X-RateLimit-Reset');
      const waitMs = resetAt ? (parseInt(resetAt) * 1000 - Date.now()) : 60000;
      throw new Error(`Rate limited. Retry after ${Math.ceil(waitMs / 1000)}s`);
    }
    case 404:
      throw new Error(`Resource not found: ${body.err}`);
    default:
      throw new Error(`ClickUp API ${response.status}: ${body.err}`);
  }
}

Prerequisites

• Authorized access to the affected environment and a scoped diagnostic identity
• Redacted request/correlation metadata and last certified integration state
• A known owner for workspace, token, task data, and production change approval
• Access to rate-limit and platform-status information

Instructions

Identify the target workspace/list and error class, collect only the minimum redacted response metadata, then apply the matching recovery path. Change one variable at a time and preserve the prior certified state; do not retry 401, 403, 429, or data-integrity errors with broader credentials or unbounded loops.

Error Handling

Failure class	Safe response
Authentication or authorization	Stop requests and route token/scope repair to its owner.
Rate limit or provider outage	Preserve retry timing, defer through the scheduler, and protect queued work.
Resource or mapping mismatch	Do not mutate; re-resolve IDs/schema and reconcile state first.
Possible data exposure	Restrict access and follow the incident process with redacted evidence.

Output

Produce a diagnostic record with environment, affected resource ID, symptom, safe correlation data, containment action, retry/rollback decision, and escalation owner. Never include tokens, full task content, attachments, or unapproved member data in general logs or tickets.

Examples

On a 429, capture the reset header and defer the same idempotent job; do not submit a duplicate task. On a 401, halt the worker and verify the secret reference with its owner. If a mapping is wrong, compare the certified target state before retrying rather than overwriting tasks.

Resources

• ClickUp Common Errors
• ClickUp API Error Handling
• ClickUp Status Page

Next Steps

For comprehensive debugging, see clickup-debug-bundle.