Flexport Failure Classification

Overview

Do not convert every failure into a retry. First identify the surface and operation class, then distinguish authentication, authorization, validation, provider availability, and ambiguous mutation outcomes.

Prerequisites

Redacted surface and operation name
HTTP status or JSON-RPC error plus documented provider code/message
Knowledge of whether the failed operation could mutate freight or trade records

Instructions

Step 1: Identify the surface

Label OAuth token, REST v3, MCP JSON-RPC, or webhook delivery; each has different failure semantics.

Step 2: Protect evidence

Capture timestamp, credential alias, version header, operation digest, status/code/message, and provider correlation metadata without payloads or secrets.

Step 3: Classify deterministically

Separate 401 authentication, 403 permission/scope, 404 resource or route, 400/422 request validation, throttling evidence, and 5xx/transport uncertainty.

Step 4: Choose retry eligibility

Retry only transient, idempotent work with bounded backoff. Never retry a create or booking until its prior outcome is reconciled.

Step 5: Correct the owner

Route credential issues to credential owners, schema issues to integration owners, business validation to data owners, and provider incidents to support.

Step 6: Close with a proof

Record the corrected contract or recovered result and add a regression fixture when the defect was local.

Authentication

REST calls authenticate with a cached OAuth 2.0 client-credentials Bearer token using audience https://api.flexport.com, or an explicitly accepted broad API key. Use distinct credentials per workload and never log credentials or tokens. MCP calls use the authenticated connection to https://mcp.flexport.com/mcp and remain subject to each tool's documented account permissions.

Tool Discipline

Use Read and Grep for discovery and evidence. Use Write or Edit only for the approved artifact, code, configuration, test, or receipt described by this workflow; do not make an unapproved Flexport-side change.

Output

Scoped decision or implementation artifact
Redacted operation and validation receipt
Failure, rollback, and follow-up ownership record

Return a machine-reviewable receipt in this shape; adapt the operation values, but never place credentials or provider payloads in it:

surface: rest-v3
operation: shipment-read
decision: approved
outcome: verified
evidence:
  release_sha: recorded-out-of-band
  provider_reference: redacted
rollback_owner: logistics-platform

Examples

A document upload returns 422 with a provider message. The operator preserves the code/message, fixes the source document metadata, and submits a new approved operation rather than repeatedly sending the unchanged payload.

Error Handling

Failure	Response
401 persists after one cached-token refresh	Stop and inspect credential revocation, audience, and secret source.
403 on one endpoint	Verify OAuth endpoint resources or MCP role permission; do not broaden silently.
404 on `/tools/...`	Use the real MCP JSON-RPC endpoint rather than the synthetic docs path.
Timeout after mutation	Reconcile using known references before any retry.

flexport-common-errors