The operation fails: 200 OK. The database errors: 200 OK. The server's on fire: 200 OK. Luna has a crisis of faith while Tau praises the API's 'good attitude'.
Does HTTP 200 mean success?
Not exactly. HTTP 200 only says 'the server received and processed the request at the HTTP layer' — it does NOT guarantee the business logic succeeded. A good API returns meaningful codes: 4xx for client errors, 5xx for server errors. Returning 200 for everything (errors included) makes it hard for callers to know what really happened and hard to detect incidents automatically.
Frequently asked questions
- Is 200 OK a success? — Only at the HTTP layer; the business result can still be an error, so read the body/error code.
- Why use proper status codes? — So clients, logs and monitoring can tell success from failure without guessing.
About this article: a DETOON entertainment comic with a practical note on API design.