Error Handling

Overview

Error Handling Features:

Structured Errors - Consistent error format across all providers
Error Codes - Specific error codes for different failure types
Context Information - Detailed error context and debugging info
Automatic Fallbacks - Bifrost handles provider fallbacks automatically
Circuit Breaking - Available via plugins for advanced reliability
Provider Mapping - Provider-specific errors mapped to common format

Benefits:

Easier Debugging - Structured error information with context
Better Monitoring - Categorized errors for alerting and metrics
Built-in Reliability - Automatic fallbacks and recovery
Simple Integration - Handle errors without complex retry logic

Error Structure

BifrostError Schema

Go Package - BifrostError Structure

// Bifrost error structure
type BifrostError struct {
    EventID        *string    `json:"event_id,omitempty"`        // Unique error event ID
    Type           *string    `json:"type,omitempty"`            // High-level error category
    IsBifrostError bool       `json:"is_bifrost_error"`          // Always true for Bifrost errors
    StatusCode     *int       `json:"status_code,omitempty"`     // HTTP status code equivalent
    Error          ErrorField `json:"error"`                     // Detailed error information
}

type ErrorField struct {
    Type    *string     `json:"type,omitempty"`    // Specific error type
    Code    *string     `json:"code,omitempty"`    // Error code
    Message string      `json:"message"`           // Human-readable error message
    Error   error       `json:"error,omitempty"`   // Original error (Go only)
    Param   interface{} `json:"param,omitempty"`   // Parameter that caused the error
    EventID *string     `json:"event_id,omitempty"` // Error event ID
}

// Check if error is a BifrostError
func isBifrostError(err error) (*schemas.BifrostError, bool) {
    var bifrostErr *schemas.BifrostError
    if errors.As(err, &bifrostErr) {
        return bifrostErr, true
    }
    return nil, false
}

HTTP Transport - Error Response Format

{
    "error": {
        "type": "rate_limit_error",
        "code": "rate_limit_exceeded",
        "message": "Rate limit exceeded for model gpt-4o. Please retry after 60 seconds.",
        "param": "model"
    },
    "is_bifrost_error": true,
    "status_code": 429,
    "event_id": "evt_abc123def456"
}

HTTP Status Codes:

Error Type	HTTP Status	Description
`authentication_error`	401	Invalid or missing credentials
`authorization_error`	403	Insufficient permissions
`rate_limit_error`	429	Rate limit exceeded
`invalid_request_error`	400	Malformed request
`api_error`	500	Internal server error
`network_error`	502/503	Network or connectivity issues

Basic Error Handling

Simple Error Handling

Go Package - Basic Error Handling

func handleBasicErrors(bf *bifrost.Bifrost, request schemas.BifrostRequest) (*schemas.BifrostResponse, error) {
    response, err := bf.ChatCompletion(context.Background(), request)
    if err != nil {
        // Check if it's a structured Bifrost error
        if bifrostErr, ok := isBifrostError(err); ok {
            // Log structured error with context
            logStructuredError(bifrostErr, request)

            // Handle specific error types
            switch bifrostErr.Error.Type {
            case "authentication_error":
                return nil, fmt.Errorf("authentication failed: %s", bifrostErr.Error.Message)
            case "rate_limit_error":
                return nil, fmt.Errorf("rate limited: %s", bifrostErr.Error.Message)
            case "network_error":
                return nil, fmt.Errorf("network error: %s", bifrostErr.Error.Message)
            default:
                return nil, fmt.Errorf("bifrost error: %s", bifrostErr.Error.Message)
            }
        }

        // Handle non-Bifrost errors
        log.WithFields(log.Fields{
            "provider": request.Provider,
            "model":    request.Model,
        }).Error("Unexpected error:", err)

        return nil, err
    }

    return response, nil
}

func logStructuredError(bifrostErr *schemas.BifrostError, request schemas.BifrostRequest) {
    fields := log.Fields{
        "provider":   request.Provider,
        "model":      request.Model,
        "error_type": bifrostErr.Error.Type,
        "error_code": bifrostErr.Error.Code,
    }

    if bifrostErr.EventID != nil {
        fields["event_id"] = *bifrostErr.EventID
    }

    log.WithFields(fields).Error(bifrostErr.Error.Message)
}

Note: Bifrost automatically handles fallbacks between providers, so you don’t need to implement manual fallback logic.

HTTP Transport - Basic Error Handling

import requests
import logging
from typing import Dict, Any, Optional

class BifrostClient:
    def __init__(self, base_url: str):
        self.base_url = base_url
        self.logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

    def chat_completion(self, payload: Dict[Any, Any]) -> Optional[Dict[Any, Any]]:
        try:
            response = requests.post(
                f"{self.base_url}/v1/chat/completions",
                json=payload,
                timeout=30
            )

            if response.status_code == 200:
                return response.json()

            # Handle Bifrost errors
            error_data = response.json()
            if error_data.get("is_bifrost_error"):
                self.log_structured_error(error_data, payload)

                error_type = error_data.get("error", {}).get("type")
                error_message = error_data.get("error", {}).get("message", "Unknown error")

                if error_type == "authentication_error":
                    raise Exception(f"Authentication failed: {error_message}")
                elif error_type == "rate_limit_error":
                    raise Exception(f"Rate limited: {error_message}")
                elif error_type == "network_error":
                    raise Exception(f"Network error: {error_message}")
                else:
                    raise Exception(f"Bifrost error: {error_message}")

            # Handle other HTTP errors
            response.raise_for_status()

        except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
            self.logger.error(f"Request failed: {e}")
            raise

    def log_structured_error(self, error_data: Dict[Any, Any], payload: Dict[Any, Any]):
        error_info = error_data.get("error", {})

        self.logger.error(
            "Bifrost error occurred",
            extra={
                "provider": payload.get("provider"),
                "model": payload.get("model"),
                "error_type": error_info.get("type"),
                "error_code": error_info.get("code"),
                "error_message": error_info.get("message"),
                "event_id": error_data.get("event_id")
            }
        )

# Usage
client = BifrostClient("http://localhost:8080")

try:
    response = client.chat_completion({
        "provider": "openai",
        "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
        "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
    })
    print("Success:", response)
except Exception as e:
    print("Error:", e)

Note: Bifrost HTTP transport automatically handles retries and fallbacks, so simple error handling is usually sufficient.

Common Error Types

Authentication Errors

Code	Description	Status Code	Action
`invalid_api_key`	API key is invalid or malformed	401	Check API key format
`api_key_expired`	API key has expired	401	Rotate API key
`insufficient_quota`	Account quota exceeded	429	Upgrade plan or wait
`account_deactivated`	Provider account is deactivated	403	Contact provider support
`unauthorized_model`	Model access not authorized	403	Check model permissions

Rate Limit Errors

Code	Description	Status Code	Action
`rate_limit_exceeded`	General rate limit exceeded	429	Wait and retry with backoff
`concurrent_requests_exceeded`	Too many concurrent requests	429	Reduce concurrency
`tokens_per_minute_exceeded`	Token rate limit exceeded	429	Split requests or wait
`requests_per_day_exceeded`	Daily request limit exceeded	429	Wait until next day or upgrade

Network Errors

Code	Description	Status Code	Action
`connection_timeout`	Request timed out	504	Retry with exponential backoff
`connection_refused`	Connection refused by server	502	Check service availability
`dns_resolution_failed`	DNS lookup failed	502	Check network configuration
`proxy_error`	Proxy connection failed	502	Check proxy settings

Error Monitoring

Metrics and Alerting

Error Tracking Go Package - Error Metrics:

func trackErrorMetrics(bifrostErr *schemas.BifrostError, provider schemas.ModelProvider) {
    if bifrostErr.Error.Type != nil && bifrostErr.Error.Code != nil {
        // Track error counts by type and provider
        errorCounter.WithLabelValues(
            string(provider),
            *bifrostErr.Error.Type,
            *bifrostErr.Error.Code,
        ).Inc()

        // Track error rates for alerting
        if *bifrostErr.Error.Type == "authentication_error" {
            authErrorRate.WithLabelValues(string(provider)).Inc()
        }
    }
}

HTTP Transport - Prometheus Metrics: Bifrost automatically exposes error metrics at /metrics:

# Check error metrics
curl http://localhost:8080/metrics | grep -E "error"

# Example metrics:
# bifrost_errors_total{provider="openai",type="rate_limit_error",code="rate_limit_exceeded"} 5
# bifrost_error_rate{provider="openai"} 0.02

Best Practices

Error Handling Guidelines

Best Practices 1. Always Check for Bifrost Errors:

response, err := bf.ChatCompletion(ctx, request)
if err != nil {
    if bifrostErr, ok := isBifrostError(err); ok {
        // Handle structured Bifrost error
        handleStructuredError(bifrostErr)
    } else {
        // Handle other errors
        handleGenericError(err)
    }
}

2. Log Errors with Context:

func logError(err error, request schemas.BifrostRequest) {
    if bifrostErr, ok := isBifrostError(err); ok {
        log.WithFields(log.Fields{
            "error_type": bifrostErr.Error.Type,
            "error_code": bifrostErr.Error.Code,
            "provider":   request.Provider,
            "model":      request.Model,
            "event_id":   bifrostErr.EventID,
        }).Error(bifrostErr.Error.Message)
    } else {
        log.WithFields(log.Fields{
            "provider": request.Provider,
            "model":    request.Model,
        }).Error(err.Error())
    }
}

3. Monitor Error Patterns:

// Set up alerts for high error rates
if errorRate > 0.1 { // 10% error rate
    alertManager.Send("High error rate detected")
}

// Track specific error types
authErrors := getErrorCount("authentication_error")
if authErrors > 5 {
    alertManager.Send("Multiple authentication failures")
}

4. Don’t Implement Manual Fallbacks:

// ❌ Don't do this - Bifrost handles fallbacks automatically
providers := []schemas.ModelProvider{schemas.OpenAI, schemas.Anthropic}
for _, provider := range providers {
    // Manual fallback logic
}

// ✅ Do this - Let Bifrost handle it
response, err := bf.ChatCompletion(ctx, request)
if err != nil {
    // Just handle the final error
    logError(err, request)
    return nil, err
}

Next Steps

Task	Documentation
Configure providers	Providers
Manage API keys	Key Management
Set up networking	Networking
Optimize performance	Memory Management

Tip: Bifrost handles complex error recovery automatically. Focus on understanding error types for monitoring and debugging rather than implementing retry logic.

Introduction

Prompt Engineering

Offline Evals

Online Evals

Tracing

Simulations

Library

Dashboards

Integrations

Settings

Overview

Error Structure

BifrostError Schema

Basic Error Handling

Simple Error Handling

Common Error Types

Authentication Errors

Rate Limit Errors

Network Errors

Error Monitoring

Metrics and Alerting

Best Practices

Error Handling Guidelines

Next Steps

Introduction

Prompt Engineering

Offline Evals

Online Evals

Tracing

Simulations

Library

Dashboards

Integrations

Settings

​Overview

​Error Structure

​BifrostError Schema

​Basic Error Handling

​Simple Error Handling

​Common Error Types

​Authentication Errors

​Rate Limit Errors

​Network Errors

​Error Monitoring

​Metrics and Alerting

​Best Practices

​Error Handling Guidelines

​Next Steps

Overview

Error Structure

BifrostError Schema

Basic Error Handling

Simple Error Handling

Common Error Types

Authentication Errors

Rate Limit Errors

Network Errors

Error Monitoring

Metrics and Alerting

Best Practices

Error Handling Guidelines

Next Steps