Authentication Errors — Proposed Guide

Planned API — Reference Only

Authentication Errors: A proposed authentication error distinguishes a missing or invalid credential from a valid principal lacking required access.…

Overview

A proposed authentication error distinguishes a missing or invalid credential from a valid principal lacking required access. Clients should use stable codes, not string-match a human explanation.

Key concepts

A 401 outcome would generally require credential correction; a 403 outcome would require permission review. Resource existence should not be disclosed unnecessarily to an unauthorized caller.

Implementation considerations

Do not include token values in error details. Repeated failures should stop the client workflow rather than fall back to a more privileged credential.

Proposed API behavior

GET /v1/users/usr_example_123 is an illustrative design for this topic. Path and field names may change before implementation. Access would require an authorized organization context and operation-specific permission; no public API or authorization grant is available here.

Illustrative query parameters
Name	Type	Description
user_id	string	Stable fictional user reference; not a secret and not evidence that a resource exists.

Static example requests

Proposed, non-executing request examples

# Proposed request text only; this reserved host is not a live API.
curl -X GET 'https://api.remizen.example/v1/users/usr_example_123?user_id=usr_example_123' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

Fictional response example

200 (proposed example)Static response fixture

Fictional documentation data only. No request was sent, record created, review performed, payment initiated or provider connection activated.

JSON

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "usr_example_123",
      "organization_id": "org_example_123",
      "display_name": "Taylor Example",
      "email": "taylor@example.com",
      "status": "active"
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "has_more": false,
    "next_cursor": null
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "req_example_123",
    "reference_only": true
  }
}

Illustrative error case

Review this failure case in context: Do not include token values in error details. Repeated failures should stop the client workflow rather than fall back to a more privileged credential.

401 (illustrative; final error contracts are undecided)Proposed error fixture

Synthetic diagnostic example. Human-readable messages must not be used as stable programmatic contracts.

JSON

{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_credential",
    "message": "The proposed authentication errors operation requires review of its input or authorization.",
    "request_id": "req_example_123"
  }
}

Proposed data types

Illustrative field dictionary
Name	Type	Description
user_id	string	Stable fictional user reference; not a secret and not evidence that a resource exists.
error_code	string	Illustrative machine-readable error classification; final codes remain undecided.
request_id	string	Stable fictional request reference; not a secret and not evidence that a resource exists.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Authentication

Users API Overview

Users & Organizations

Existing API reference

Preserved original reference pages and specifications.