4xx Client Errors

HTTP 425 Too Early

The server is unwilling to risk processing a request that might be replayed.

When is 425 used?

  • Protection against replay attacks in HTTP/2

How to handle a 425 response

Inspect the request — URL, method, headers, credentials, and body. Retrying the same request unchanged will usually fail again; 429 is the exception, where you should wait for the Retry-After period.

Check the status code a URL returns from the command line:

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" https://example.com

How to return 425 from your server

Node.js (Express)

res.status(425).json({ message: 'Too Early' });

Python (Flask)

return {"message": "Too Early"}, 425

Go (net/http)

w.WriteHeader(425)

Frequently Asked Questions

What does HTTP 425 mean?

425 Too Early: The server is unwilling to risk processing a request that might be replayed.

Is 425 an error?

Yes. 425 is in the 4xx Client Errors class. Client errors: the request is malformed, unauthorized, or targets something that does not exist.