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Use this section to troubleshoot issues encountered when calling the ADE Section API (https://api.va.landing.ai/v1/ade/section).

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Status Codes

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Status 400: Bad Request

This status code indicates a client-side error. Review the specific error message to identify the issue.

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Error: Failed to download document from URL

This error occurs when the API cannot download the Markdown file from the provided markdown_url. Error message:
What to do:
  • Verify the URL is accessible and returns valid content.
  • Check network connectivity and URL permissions.
  • Ensure the URL points to a Markdown file (.md extension).

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Status 422: Unprocessable Entity

This status code indicates input validation failures. Review the error message and adjust your request parameters.

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Error: No markdown provided

This error occurs when your request does not include the markdown parameter or markdown_url parameter, or when the values are empty. Error message:
What to do: Add one of these parameters to your request:
  • Use the markdown parameter to upload a Markdown file or provide inline Markdown content, OR
  • Use the markdown_url parameter to provide a URL to a Markdown file.

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Error: Both ‘markdown’ and ‘markdown_url’ provided

This error occurs when your request includes both the markdown and markdown_url parameters. Error message:
What to do: Remove one of the parameters. Use either markdown (to upload a file or provide inline content) or markdown_url (to specify a URL), but not both in the same request.

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Error: Invalid ‘markdown_url’ format

This error occurs when the value provided for markdown_url is not a valid URL. Error message:
What to do:
  • Verify that the URL is correctly formatted (for example, https://example.com/document.md).
  • Ensure the URL includes a scheme (https:// or http://).

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Error: Multiple markdown files detected

This error occurs when multiple Markdown files are included in the request. Error message:
What to do: Send only one Markdown file per request.

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Error: Unsupported format

This error occurs when you provide a file other than Markdown (.md) to the section endpoint. Error message:
What to do:
  • The section endpoint only accepts Markdown files with a .md extension.
  • If you have a PDF, DOCX, or other document format, use the ADE Parse API to convert your document to Markdown first, then pass the parsed Markdown output to the section endpoint.
  • Ensure your file has a .md extension and contains valid UTF-8 encoded Markdown content.

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Error: Missing reference anchors

This error occurs when the Markdown content does not contain reference anchors. The section endpoint requires Markdown output from the ADE Parse API, which includes <a id="..."></a> anchors that ADE Section uses to map sections to chunks. Error message:
What to do:
  • Do not pass plain Markdown or documents you have formatted manually. Use the Markdown output from the ADE Parse API as input.
  • Confirm the Markdown content contains <a id="..."></a> anchor tags before sending it to the section endpoint.

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Status 500: Internal Server Error

This error indicates an unexpected server error occurred during sectioning. What to do:

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Status 504: Gateway Timeout

This error occurs when the sectioning process exceeds the timeout limit. What to do:
  • Reduce the size of your Markdown document.
  • If the error persists, contact support@landing.ai.

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Best Practices for Avoiding Errors

  • Use parsed Markdown: Always pass Markdown content generated by the ADE Parse API. The section endpoint requires structured Markdown with reference anchors (<a id="..."></a>).
  • Use guidelines sparingly: The guidelines parameter is optional. Start without guidelines to see the default behavior before customizing the hierarchy.

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When Are Credits Consumed?

Credits are consumed only when the ADE Section API returns a 200 status code. All other responses, including errors, do not consume credits.