424 - Failed Dependency
HTTP 424 Failed Dependency means the request could not complete because a dependent action failed first.
Last reviewed: February 5, 2026|Source-backed guidance under our editorial policy
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What Does Failed Dependency Mean?
This operation depends on another step that failed, so the dependent action is aborted to prevent inconsistent workflow state.
Common Causes
- -Batch operation dependency chain aborts when first WebDAV sub-operation fails, so subsequent steps are marked failed.
- -Orchestrator cancels child step because prerequisite inventory reservation call returned non-success status.
- -Pipeline action depends on earlier artifact upload that failed checksum validation, propagating dependency failure.
How to Fix Failed Dependency
- 1Identify the prerequisite action that failed before the dependent request.
- 2Fix the upstream dependency failure and rerun the workflow in order.
- 3Add fail-fast guards so dependent steps stop after prerequisite failures.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis for Failed Dependency
- 1Capture workflow execution logs and locate the exact prerequisite step that failed first.
- 2Correlate request IDs across orchestrator, queue, and downstream services in the same transaction chain.
- 3Validate dependency contracts, step ordering, and compensation behavior for partial failures.
- 4Retest by replaying the dependency chain from the failed prerequisite onward.
Dependency Graph and Step-Order Validation
- -Trace directed dependency order (example: publish step executed before required validation step completed).
- -Inspect per-step output contracts (example: downstream step expects artifact ID, upstream failure returned null placeholder).
Orchestration Failure Propagation and Compensation
- -Audit fail-fast behavior (example: orchestrator continued dependent tasks after prerequisite timeout).
- -Verify compensation/rollback handlers (example: step rollback failed, leaving chain in partial state and triggering repeated 424).
Implementation Examples
curl -i -X POST https://api.example.com/v1/resource -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{"sample":true}"
# Response:
# HTTP/1.1 424 Failed Dependency
# {"error":"Failed Dependency","code":"424"}const response = await fetch('https://api.example.com/v1/resource', {
method: 'POST',
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'application/json' },
body: JSON.stringify({ sample: true })
});
if (response.status === 424) {
console.error('Handle 424 Failed Dependency');
}import requests
response = requests.post(
'https://api.example.com/v1/resource',
headers={'Accept': 'application/json', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
json={'sample': True}
)
if response.status_code == 424:
print('Handle 424 Failed Dependency')Seen in Production
Batch API step 2 depends on failed step 1 output
Frequency: common
Example: Order pipeline attempts invoice generation even though payment authorization step failed, returning 424.
Fix: Short-circuit dependent tasks when prerequisite state is failed and require explicit replay from failed step.
Workflow retries dependent task without replaying prerequisite
Frequency: rare
Example: Orchestrator retries shipping label creation while stock reservation remains failed, causing repeated 424 loops.
Fix: Bind retry policy to dependency graph so prerequisite failures trigger upstream repair before downstream retry.
Debugging Tools
- -Distributed workflow traces with step dependency edges
- -Orchestrator execution history and retry logs
- -Compensation/rollback handler telemetry
- -Cross-service correlation ID search
How to Verify the Fix
- -Re-run the workflow and confirm dependent steps no longer return 424.
- -Validate traces show prerequisite completion before dependent execution.
- -Track dependency-chain error metrics to confirm sustained recovery.
How to Prevent Recurrence
- -Model dependencies explicitly and enforce deterministic execution order.
- -Implement compensation handlers for prerequisite failures.
- -Add integration tests that assert dependent-step suppression on failures.
Pro Tip
- -annotate a machine-readable
failed_prerequisite_stepfield so clients and operators can immediately jump to root cause instead of debugging the blocked step.
Official References
Provider Context
This guidance is specific to HTTP services. Always validate implementation details against official provider documentation before deploying to production.