not_found — Resource does not exist
What the API returns
{
"error": {
"code": "not_found",
"message": "The requested resource does not exist.",
"request_id": "req_01JRQ8F4X9N2K7YB3C5V6W8H0T"
}
}Every Wapito error is this one envelope. Branch on code, which is stable; message is written for people and can be reworded; details appears only when there is something specific to say; request_id is what to quote to support.
What it means
not_found is an HTTP 404 error from the Wapito WhatsApp API: resource does not exist. The response message reads “The requested resource does not exist.” It is not retryable: the same request fails again until you change it. 5 endpoints can raise it, GET /groups/{id} among them.
Why it happens
The id in the path does not match anything this channel can see. That covers a group the linked number never joined or has left, a chat that was deleted from the phone, a label that was removed, a webhook id from another channel, and simple typos where a suffix was trimmed. Wapito deliberately answers the same way for a resource that never existed and one you cannot see, so ids cannot be probed.
How to fix not_found
List the collection first and confirm the id appears there for this channel before fetching it directly.
Check the id was not truncated or numeric-cast in transit; every id in Wapito is a string and often longer than a 64-bit integer.
Remember that leaving a group makes it invisible to the linked number - rejoin through an invite before you try to read it again.
The same failure in other stacks
If you are moving from a library or a self-hosted gateway, this is the same failure under the name that stack gives it:
WAHA 404item-not-found
Endpoints that raise it
Where you will meet it
- Group Info
Feature guide
Retry guidance
Do not retry as sent
The same request fails the same way until something changes: the body, the credential, the recipient or the state of the channel. Keep it off every retry loop, fix the cause above, and send a corrected request once.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I get 404 for a group I can see on my phone?
Usually because the engine has not finished syncing that group yet, or because the id was copied from the phone's export in a different format. Call the groups list endpoint and use the id exactly as it appears there; if the group is genuinely missing, the session may still be syncing history.
Should I retry a 404 after a delay?
Only right after a create, where a short propagation delay is plausible. For everything else a 404 will not turn into a 200 by itself. Fix the id or the assumption behind it, and treat a repeated 404 in a loop as a bug rather than as transient noise.
Related
Try it on your own number
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