Adobe Common Errors

Overview

Quick reference for the most common errors across Adobe APIs with real error messages, root causes, and verified fixes.

Prerequisites

• Adobe SDK or API credentials configured
• Access to Adobe Developer Console (https://developer.adobe.com/console)
• Access to error logs or API responses

Instructions

Step 1: Identify the HTTP Status Code and Error Body

Adobe APIs return structured error responses:

{
  "error_code": "403003",
  "message": "Api Key is invalid"
}

Step 2: Match Error Below and Apply Fix

Error 1: 401 Unauthorized — Token Expired or Invalid

{"error":"invalid_token","error_description":"Could not match jwt signature to any of the bindings"}

Cause: Access token expired (24h TTL) or you are still using deprecated JWT credentials.

Fix:

# Regenerate OAuth Server-to-Server token
curl -X POST 'https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/ims/token/v3' \
  -d "client_id=${ADOBE_CLIENT_ID}&client_secret=${ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET}&grant_type=client_credentials&scope=${ADOBE_SCOPES}"

# If using JWT: migrate immediately — JWT reached EOL June 2025
# See: https://developer.adobe.com/developer-console/docs/guides/authentication/ServerToServerAuthentication/migration

Error 2: 403 Forbidden — API Not Entitled

{"error_code":"403003","message":"Api Key is invalid"}

Cause: Your Developer Console project does not have the API added, or the product profile is missing.

Fix: Go to Developer Console > Project > Add API > Select the API > Assign product profile.

Error 3: 429 Too Many Requests — Rate Limited

HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 30

Cause: Exceeded API rate limits. Adobe rate limits vary by API:

• Firefly: ~20 req/min on trial
• PDF Services: 500 transactions/month (free tier)
• Events Publishing: 3,000 req/5sec per api-key

Fix:

// Honor the Retry-After header
const retryAfter = parseInt(response.headers.get('Retry-After') || '30');
await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, retryAfter * 1000));

Error 4: 400 Bad Request — Firefly Content Policy

{"type":"INPUT_VALIDATION_ERROR","title":"prompt is not allowed by the content policy"}

Cause: Firefly prompt contains prohibited content (real people, trademarks, explicit content).

Fix: Remove prohibited terms. Firefly has guardrails against generating images of real people, brand logos, and copyrighted characters.

Error 5: 400 InputValidationError — Photoshop Storage URL

{"type":"InputValidationError","title":"input href is not a valid pre-signed URL"}

Cause: Photoshop/Lightroom APIs require pre-signed cloud storage URLs (S3, Azure Blob, Dropbox), not direct file uploads.

Fix:

// Generate a pre-signed S3 URL for input
const inputUrl = await s3.getSignedUrl('getObject', {
  Bucket: 'my-bucket', Key: 'input.jpg', Expires: 3600
});
// Generate a pre-signed S3 URL for output
const outputUrl = await s3.getSignedUrl('putObject', {
  Bucket: 'my-bucket', Key: 'output.png', Expires: 3600
});

Error 6: DISQUALIFIED — PDF Services Encrypted File

{"status":"failed","error":{"code":"DISQUALIFIED","message":"File is encrypted"}}

Cause: PDF is password-protected or has DRM restrictions.

Fix: Remove encryption before processing:

# Remove PDF password with qpdf
qpdf --decrypt --password=yourpassword input.pdf decrypted.pdf

Error 7: invalid_scope — OAuth Scope Not Entitled

{"error":"invalid_scope","error_description":"scope openid,firefly_api not allowed"}

Cause: Your organization is not entitled to the requested API scope.

Fix: In Adobe Admin Console, ensure the product profile associated with your project includes the required API entitlements.

Error 8: ENOTFOUND — DNS Resolution Failure

Error: getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND ims-na1.adobelogin.com

Cause: DNS resolution failure or network firewall blocking Adobe endpoints.

Fix:

# Test DNS resolution
nslookup ims-na1.adobelogin.com
nslookup firefly-api.adobe.io
nslookup image.adobe.io

# Ensure firewall allows outbound HTTPS to:
# - ims-na1.adobelogin.com (auth)
# - firefly-api.adobe.io (Firefly)
# - image.adobe.io (Photoshop/Lightroom)
# - pdf-services.adobe.io (PDF Services)

Quick Diagnostic Commands

# Test OAuth token generation
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" -X POST \
  'https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/ims/token/v3' \
  -d "client_id=${ADOBE_CLIENT_ID}&client_secret=${ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET}&grant_type=client_credentials&scope=${ADOBE_SCOPES}"

# Check Adobe service status
curl -s https://status.adobe.com/api/v1/incidents | python3 -m json.tool | head -20

# Verify which APIs your project has
# → Go to https://developer.adobe.com/console > Your Project > APIs

Escalation Path

1. Collect evidence with adobe-debug-bundle
2. Check https://status.adobe.com for active incidents
3. Contact Adobe Support with request ID (from response headers: x-request-id)

Resources

• Adobe Status Page
• Adobe Developer Support
• OAuth Implementation Guide

Next Steps

For comprehensive debugging, see adobe-debug-bundle.