Exceptions

The OpenAQ Python SDK raises exceptions when an error occurs. The package includes two main exception types: OpenAQError and APIError.

Using try and except blocks gives you a predictable interface for catching errors and identifying the specific error class.

OpenAQ error

The OpenAQError class serves as a superclass for exceptions that show the OpenAQ SDK client or methods found an issue and threw an exception before sending a request to the API.

All OpenAQError exceptions include a message field with a human-readable explanation of the error.

from openaq import OpenAQ

try:
    client = OpenAQ() # raises ApiKeyMissingError since no key is provided
except Exception as e:
    print(type(e))
    print(e)

API error

The APIError class serves as a superclass for exceptions that show an error occurred after the request to the API. All APIError exceptions wrap HTTP error codes (4xx and 5xx) and expose the status_code from the response body.

All APIError exceptions include message and status_code fields with a human-readable explanation of the error and the HTTP status code number, respectively.

from openaq import OpenAQ

with OpenAQ(api_key="replace-with-valid-openaq-api-key") as client:
    try:
        client.countries.get(999) # raises NotFoundError since there is no country with this ID
    except Exception as e:
        print(type(e))
        print(e)

Caution

This example uses a placeholder API key `replace-me-with-a-valid-key` and will not work as-is. Replace this value with a valid OpenAQ API key.

See the Exceptions reference documentation for a detailed list of exceptions.

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