home / skills / jeremylongshore / claude-code-plugins-plus-skills / clay-common-errors

This skill helps diagnose and fix Clay common errors quickly by guiding you from error identification to verified resolution.

npx playbooks add skill jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills --skill clay-common-errors

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (1)
SKILL.md
2.2 KB
---
name: clay-common-errors
description: |
  Diagnose and fix Clay common errors and exceptions.
  Use when encountering Clay errors, debugging failed requests,
  or troubleshooting integration issues.
  Trigger with phrases like "clay error", "fix clay",
  "clay not working", "debug clay".
allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Bash(curl:*)
version: 1.0.0
license: MIT
author: Jeremy Longshore <[email protected]>
---

# Clay Common Errors

## Overview
Quick reference for the top 10 most common Clay errors and their solutions.

## Prerequisites
- Clay SDK installed
- API credentials configured
- Access to error logs

## Instructions

### Step 1: Identify the Error
Check error message and code in your logs or console.

### Step 2: Find Matching Error Below
Match your error to one of the documented cases.

### Step 3: Apply Solution
Follow the solution steps for your specific error.

## Output
- Identified error cause
- Applied fix
- Verified resolution

## Error Handling

### Authentication Failed
**Error Message:**
```
Authentication error: Invalid API key
```

**Cause:** API key is missing, expired, or invalid.

**Solution:**
```bash
# Verify API key is set
echo $CLAY_API_KEY
```

---

### Rate Limit Exceeded
**Error Message:**
```
Rate limit exceeded. Please retry after X seconds.
```

**Cause:** Too many requests in a short period.

**Solution:**
Implement exponential backoff. See `clay-rate-limits` skill.

---

### Network Timeout
**Error Message:**
```
Request timeout after 30000ms
```

**Cause:** Network connectivity or server latency issues.

**Solution:**
```typescript
// Increase timeout
const client = new Client({ timeout: 60000 });
```

## Examples

### Quick Diagnostic Commands
```bash
# Check Clay status
curl -s https://status.clay.com

# Verify API connectivity
curl -I https://api.clay.com

# Check local configuration
env | grep CLAY
```

### Escalation Path
1. Collect evidence with `clay-debug-bundle`
2. Check Clay status page
3. Contact support with request ID

## Resources
- [Clay Status Page](https://status.clay.com)
- [Clay Support](https://docs.clay.com/support)
- [Clay Error Codes](https://docs.clay.com/errors)

## Next Steps
For comprehensive debugging, see `clay-debug-bundle`.

Overview

This skill diagnoses and fixes common Clay errors and exceptions encountered during development and integration. It provides a quick-reference workflow to identify error causes, apply proven fixes, and verify resolution. Use it to speed up troubleshooting and reduce mean time to recovery for Clay integrations.

How this skill works

The skill inspects error messages, HTTP status codes, and local configuration to match your issue to a known Clay error pattern. It recommends targeted fixes—authentication, rate limiting, network timeouts, configuration issues—and supplies concrete commands and code changes. It also guides verification steps and escalation when an issue needs support.

When to use it

  • When you see authentication or invalid API key errors
  • When requests fail with rate limit or timeout messages
  • When integration tests or production calls to Clay fail
  • When logs show unknown Clay error codes or unexpected exceptions
  • When you need a reproducible diagnostic bundle to escalate to support

Best practices

  • Verify CLAY_API_KEY and environment variables before troubleshooting
  • Implement exponential backoff and request pacing to avoid rate limits
  • Increase client timeout or retry logic for intermittent network latency
  • Collect request IDs, timestamps, and debug bundles before contacting support
  • Verify service status page before deep debugging to rule out outages

Example use cases

  • Fix an "Authentication error: Invalid API key" by validating environment variables and rotating credentials
  • Resolve "Rate limit exceeded" by adding exponential backoff and request batching
  • Handle "Request timeout" by increasing client timeout and retrying transient failures
  • Run quick diagnostics: curl status checks, API connectivity tests, and environment variable inspection
  • Prepare an escalation: generate a clay-debug-bundle, note request ID, and forward to support

FAQ

What if authentication still fails after verifying the API key?

Confirm the key has correct scope and has not been revoked; test a new key and check for environment variable overrides in deployment tooling.

How do I confirm a rate limit is the root cause?

Look for 429 responses with retry-after headers, correlate spike timing with request volume, and reproduce the failure with a controlled request rate.