422 Unprocessable Entity JSON response example

Last updated 2026-05-20

When to use this

Use this when the request parsed correctly but failed business validation. The body is identical in spirit to the validation-error page but tied to the 422 status semantics specifically.

Example JSON

Same body as validation-error, but always returned with HTTP 422.

{
  "status": 422,
  "error": "Unprocessable Entity",
  "message": "Cart cannot be checked out",
  "code": "cart_invalid",
  "errors": [
    {
      "field": "items[0].quantity",
      "message": "Quantity exceeds stock"
    },
    {
      "field": "shippingAddress",
      "message": "Shipping address is required"
    }
  ]
}

Request examples

const res = await fetch('https://jsonexamples.com/http/422/Unprocessable+entity');
if (!res.ok) {
  const err = await res.json();
  console.error(res.status, err.message);
}

curl -i https://jsonexamples.com/http/422/Unprocessable+entity

import requests

r = requests.get('https://jsonexamples.com/http/422/Unprocessable+entity')
if r.status_code >= 400:
    print(r.status_code, r.json())

Try the live endpoint

Click below to call /http/422/Unprocessable+entity from your browser.

// click the button to populate this block

Common variations

Single business-rule violation

{
  "status": 422,
  "error": "Unprocessable Entity",
  "message": "Email already in use",
  "code": "email_taken"
}

Convert this JSON

Generated starting points for TypeScript, JSON Schema, and Zod. Refine before shipping to production.

export interface 422Unprocessable {
  "status": number;
  "error": string;
  "message": string;
  "code": string;
  "errors": {
    "field": string;
    "message": string;
  }[];
}

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "title": "422Unprocessable",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "status": {
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "error": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "message": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "code": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "errors": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "field": {
            "type": "string"
          },
          "message": {
            "type": "string"
          }
        },
        "required": [
          "field",
          "message"
        ],
        "additionalProperties": false
      }
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "status",
    "error",
    "message",
    "code",
    "errors"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

import { z } from 'zod';

export const 422UnprocessableSchema = z.object({
  status: z.number(),
  error: z.string(),
  message: z.string(),
  code: z.string(),
  errors: z.array(z.object({
    field: z.string(),
    message: z.string()
  }))
});
export type 422Unprocessable = z.infer<typeof 422UnprocessableSchema>;