gRPC 5 NOT_FOUND vs 14 UNAVAILABLE
Both gRPC 5 (NOT_FOUND) and 14 (UNAVAILABLE) belong to the gRPC Status Codes category. 5 indicates that some requested entity was not found. For example, a file or directory that the RPC was supposed to operate on does not exist. Meanwhile, 14 means that the service is currently unavailable. This is most likely a transient condition, which can be corrected by retrying with a backoff.
Description
Some requested entity was not found. For example, a file or directory that the RPC was supposed to operate on does not exist.
When You See It
The resource referenced in the request doesn't exist — such as looking up a user by ID that has been deleted or never created.
How to Fix
Verify the resource identifier is correct. Ensure the resource was created before accessing it, or handle the not-found case gracefully in your client.
Description
The service is currently unavailable. This is most likely a transient condition, which can be corrected by retrying with a backoff.
When You See It
The server is overloaded, shutting down, or a network partition occurred. This is the most common code to retry on, as it's explicitly transient.
How to Fix
Retry with exponential backoff. If persistent, check the server health, load balancer configuration, and network connectivity between client and server.
Key Differences
gRPC 5: Some requested entity was not found. For example, a file or directory that the RPC was supposed to operate on does not exist.
gRPC 14: The service is currently unavailable. This is most likely a transient condition, which can be corrected by retrying with a backoff.
You encounter 5 when the resource referenced in the request doesn't exist — such as looking up a user by ID that has been deleted or never created.
You encounter 14 when the server is overloaded, shutting down, or a network partition occurred. This is the most common code to retry on, as it's explicitly transient.
When to Use Which
For 5 (NOT_FOUND): Verify the resource identifier is correct. Ensure the resource was created before accessing it, or handle the not-found case gracefully in your client. For 14 (UNAVAILABLE): Retry with exponential backoff. If persistent, check the server health, load balancer configuration, and network connectivity between client and server.