201 Created
The request was fulfilled and resulted in a new resource being created. The server should include a Location header pointing to the URL of the newly created resource. The response body typically contains the created resource. Most often returned from POST requests.
What can I do?
- No action needed — this is an informational or success response, not an error.
How to debug & fix
- Always include a Location header with the URL of the new resource
- Include the created object in the response body for convenience
- Return 200 if nothing new was created; 200 for idempotent updates
- Run end-to-end tests that follow the Location header in the 201 response to verify the new resource is reachable.
Code Example
app.post('/users', async (req, res) => {
const user = await User.create(req.body);
res.status(201)
.location(`/users/${user.id}`)
.json(user);
});Related Status Codes
How HTTP Status Codes Work
Every HTTP response carries a three-digit status code that tells the client — browser, API consumer, or search-engine crawler — exactly what happened. The first digit defines the class: 1xx informational (request in progress), 2xx success, 3xx redirection, 4xx client error (bad request, missing auth, not found), and 5xx server failure.
Status codes are standardised in RFC 9110 (HTTP Semantics, 2022). Extensions like WebDAV (RFC 4918) and rate-limit headers (RFC 6585) added codes beyond the core set. When a client receives an unrecognised code, the rule is to treat it as the generic x00 of its class.
Why the Right Code Matters
Semantically correct codes help search engines index accurately (301 passes link equity; 410 removes pages faster than 404), allow API clients to implement correct retry logic (429 + Retry-After, 503 + Retry-After), and let monitoring systems distinguish bugs (500) from load issues (503) from auth failures (401/403).
Looking up a different status code? The full reference covers all HTTP codes with causes, fix guides, and copyable code examples for Node.js and Python.
Browse the full HTTP Status Code reference →