Error code: temporarily_unavailable

What triggers it

The service is briefly unavailable. Maintenance or an overloaded dependency.

Example response

{
  "error": {
    "type": "api_error",
    "code": "temporarily_unavailable",
    "message": "The service is briefly unavailable."
  }
}

How to fix it

Retry with backoff; the service returns shortly.

This class is transient — see Retrying failed requests.

In practice

In a well-built client, temporarily_unavailable is handled by branching on error.code rather than on the human error.message, which may be reworded over time. The HTTP status (503) gives the broad api_error class; the code gives the specifics; and, on field errors, error.param pinpoints the input to fix.

This code is transient, so it belongs in the retry path: back off with jitter, honour Retry-After on a 429, and pair writes with an idempotency key so a retry after a timeout never double-applies. See Retrying failed requests and Build a resilient API client.