mastodon / mastodon/documentation

Documented 404 return for /api/v1/timelines/tag/:hashtag may be incorrect

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Description

https://docs.joinmastodon.org/methods/timelines/#tag notes that a 404 response is possible if the hashtag "does not exist" (https://docs.joinmastodon.org/methods/timelines/#404-not-found).

Some quick checking on mastodon.social suggests this is incorrect, and an empty array is returned instead (which also feels like the correct behaviour).

https://mastodon.social/api/v1/timelines/tag/pO8WHFw3JSGvLAt0iyQ08g (tag generated with head -c 16 /dev/urandom | base64 | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9', so it's extremely unlikely to exist) returns a 200, with a JSON body, consisting of [].

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the timelines tag API documentation and the linked 404 Not Found section, then repeat the supplied request with a very unlikely hashtag to verify the response. Done means the documentation accurately describes the observed status and body for a nonexistent hashtag, with the 404 note corrected or removed if appropriate.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
api, documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
52/100

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