Indexing errors occur when Doofinder cannot process your product data feed. These errors do not affect your existing search results, but they prevent product updates from appearing until the issue is resolved.
If automatic indexing fails five consecutive times, Doofinder disables it automatically. You can re-enable it from Configuration > Search Engines > See Indices > Configuration in the Doofinder Admin Panel. You can also check how to, here.
This guide covers the most common indexing errors, what causes them, and how to fix them.
1. Connection Issues
1.1 Invalid Authentication (401)
Error codes
- "invalid_authentication"
- "digest_auth"
Description: The server requires authentication credentials that are missing or incorrect.
How to fix
- Verify the username, password, and API keys of your feed or server. If Doofinder can’t access your database, we won’t be able to index and the error will be shown.
- Make sure the credentials match what the feed server expects.
- Update the feed URL if authentication has changed.
- Sometimes the error is caused because your server is blocking our IP. Read about Allowlisting Doofinder's IP!
1.2 Server Is Blocking the Request (>= 400 or <500 or econnrefused)
Error codes
- "request_blocked"
- "server_close_connection"
- "download_request_bloqued"
- "missing_auth_info"
- "raw_forbidding_access"
- "local_file_digest_auth"
- "too_many_requests"
- "Forbidden_access"
- **"not_found_page" **
Description: The server actively rejects or blocks the request (firewall, rate limit, IP block, etc.).
How to fix
- Ensure our IP and the user agent is allowlisted or not blocked, see here.
- Check server firewall or security rules.
- Provide proper authentication if required.
1.3 Server Is Not Available (500 Errors)
Error codes
- "server_not_available"
- "download_error"
- "download_attempted_redirections"
- "download_attempted_retries"
- "raw_tls_error"
- "bulk_operation_failed"
Description: The server is unavailable, unreachable, or returns errors during download. The core issue behind the 500 error is the feed request that can be too heavy, leading to a server timed out and returning a 500.
How to fix
- Check if the server is online and reachable.
- Retry later if it’s a temporary server outage.
- Confirm the feed URL is correct.
- Contact the server administrator if errors persist and share the logs of the error on the server with us.
- Address slow server response / timeouts.
- Update the Doofinder module (initial recommendation).
1.4 Server Responds Too Slow
Error code
- "server_slow"
Description: The server response time exceeds acceptable limits.
How to fix
- Optimize server response time.
- Reduce feed size or split into smaller feeds.
- Consider server-side caching to improve speed.
1.5 Server Timeout
Error code
- "server_timeout"
Description: The request to download the feed timed out before a response.
How to fix
- Increase server timeout settings.
- Ensure server is capable of handling requests.
- Reduce feed size or check for slow queries.
1.6 Store Domain Not Found (NXDOMAIN)
Error code
- "Server_nxdomain"
- "download_dns_error"
Description: The store’s domain cannot be resolved by DNS.
How to fix
- Check that the domain exists and is spelled correctly.
- Ensure DNS records are configured properly.
- Test the domain from multiple locations.
1.7 Downloaded Content Format Is Invalid
Error code
- **"content_invalid" **
Description: The feed was downloaded but its format could not be recognized or parsed.
How to fix
- Verify feed format matches the expected type (XML, JSON, CSV).
- Ensure the feed is well-formed and accessible.
- Remove any corrupted or invalid characters.
Here you can find all information about how to format correctly your data feed!
1.8 Plugin Endpoint Issue
Error code
- "endpoint_issue"
Description: The plugin or integration endpoint is misconfigured or not responding.
How to fix
- Verify plugin endpoint URL.
- Ensure the endpoint is publicly accessible.
- Check plugin configuration or consult the plugin provider.
1.9 Feed URL is incorrectly defined on the Index page
Error code
- "empty_url"
Description: The feed URL is missing or incorrectly configured.
How to fix
- Update the feed URL in Doofinder index settings.
- Ensure the URL points to the correct feed file.
- Test the URL in a browser to confirm accessibility.
1.10 Content of paginated feed is exactly the same as previous page
Current page of feed is exactly the same as previous page
Error code
- "same_page"
Description: Pagination in the feed returns duplicated pages.
How to fix
- Verify feed pagination settings.
- Make sure each page contains unique items.
- Adjust feed generator settings to prevent duplicates.
- Check your pagination settings, in most cases, disabling pagination resolves this.
1.11 Updating Store Issues
Error codes
- "updating_store_error"
- "get_store_error"
Description: Internal errors occurred while retrieving or updating store information.
How to fix
- Check store connection settings.
- Ensure API credentials are valid.
- Retry the operation or contact support if persistent.
- The Store does not exist or has been deleted.
- The Store ID is incorrect or not properly configured.
- The Search Engine is not linked to the correct Store.
- There are permission or access issues preventing retrieval of the Store.
- Temporary issues in the Admin Panel or API communication.
1.12 Other Connection Issues
Error code
- "connection_issue"
Description: General connection issues not covered by other connection categories.
How to fix
- Check firewall or proxy restrictions.
- Contact your hosting provider or IT team.
2. Data Issues
2.1 Incorrect Data Format
Error codes
- "incorrect_data_format"
- **"non_s3_bucket" **
Description: The feed format is invalid or does not match expected structure.
How to fix * Ensure feed matches required format (XML, JSON, CSV). * Validate feed with Doofinder feed validator. * Correct any structural issues or malformed fields.
Here you can find all information about how to format correctly your data feed!
2.2 Missing or Incomplete Data
Error code
- "missing_data"
Description: Required fields are missing or incomplete in the feed.
How to fix
- Add missing required fields (title, price, link, etc.).
- Ensure all items have complete data.
- Validate feed before submitting.
Here you can find all information about how to format correctly your data feed!
2.3 Data Compatibility Issues
Error codes
- "error_determine_feed"
- "not_valid_delimiter"
- **"bad_input_data" **
Description: The feed contains incompatible or malformed data preventing parsing.
How to fix
- Check for incorrect delimiters or special characters.
- Ensure field types match expectations.
- Use Doofinder’s sample feed as a template.
Here you can find all information about how to format correctly your data feed!
3. Indexing Issues
3.1 Issues With doofindex / doofapi
Error codes
- "creating_index_timeout"
- "no_items_to_index"
- "indexing_failed"
- "indexing_timeout"
- "indexing_doofapi_timeout"
- "moving_index_timeout"
- "moving_index_fail"
- "doofindex_timeout"
Description: Internal issues occurred while communicating with Doofinder indexing services. Essentially, during peak times, the server cluster may become saturated with heavy indexing tasks, causing it to temporarily reject new data to protect overall system stability.
How to fix
- Retry indexing after a few minutes.
- Check feed for large size or malformed data.
- Best Practice for Multiple Search Engines: If you have several Search Engines configured in your account, the best first step to prevent this is to space out their indexing schedules. We highly recommend setting the indexing times with a 1 or 2 - hour gap between each Search Engine to help distribute the load effectively, see how here.
- Contact Doofinder support if the issue persists after running a few indexings.
3.2 Empty Feed
Error code * "feed_empty"
Description: The feed was downloaded but contains no products to index.
How to fix
- Ensure feed contains at least one item.
- Verify feed generation process.
- Confirm feed URL is correct.
- Only can see the headers in the feed or no product info? Try pagination. This error is usually related to the lack of PHP memory on the servers. Meaning we are unable to generate the feed.
- Make sure the module is upgraded.
3.3 Data Type Problem
Error code * **"mapper_parsing_exception" **
Description: A field value does not match the expected data type during indexing.
How to fix
- Correct field types in the feed (number, string, URL, etc.). Examples:
- Decimal with a comma instead of a period due to locale: WooCommerce sending “42,3” instead of “42.3” in a custom float field.
- Text field auto-detected as a date: supplier_reference in PrestaShop parsed as date instead of text.
- Shopify metafields with incompatible type (real case: custom_downloads).
- Where to look: the name of the incorrect field appears in the indexing logs.
- Validate feed schema against Doofinder requirements.
Here you can find all information about how to format correctly your data feed!
3.4 Other Index Issue
Error code
- "index_process_fail"
Description: General indexing failures not covered by other categories.
How to fix
- Retry indexing.
- Contact support if persistent.
4. Processing Issues
4.1 Incorrect Format
Error code
- "processing_parse_error"
Description: Processing failed due to invalid format in input data. This means there's likely an incomplete escape sequence or improperly formatted quotation in your file that prevents the archive from being parsed correctly.
For reference, here is the documentation showing how a proper feed should be formatted.
How to fix
- Validate feed format and structure.
- Remove invalid characters or malformed sections.
4.2 Wrong Arguments
Error code
- "processing_wrong_args"
Description: Invalid parameters were passed to the processing stage.
How to fix
- Check feed parameters in Doofinder configuration.
- Correct any invalid or missing arguments.
4.3 Other Processing Issues
Error code
- "processing_error"
Description: General processing errors not covered by other categories.
How to fix
- Validate feed for correct format.
- Retry processing.
- Contact support if error persists.
5. Unexpected errors
5.1 All Other Logs Not Belonging to Any Other Category
Error codes
- Any unclassified error code
Description: Fallback classification for unexpected or unknown errors.
How to fix (common errors) “Server not available. Code: 500”:
- Open the feed URL directly in your browser.
- Check if it loads correctly without errors.
- Review your server logs to identify the failure.
- Ensure the server has enough resources (memory, execution time).
- Allowlist our IPs!
“Too many requests! Code: 429”:
- The logs are returning an HTTP 429 "Too many requests!" error. This indicates that your server (or a firewall/CDN protecting it) is applying rate limits and temporarily blocking Doofinder because it is receiving an overwhelming number of requests at the exact same time.
- Authorize also our User Agent under your server: Doofinder/4.0 (+http://www.doofinder.com).
"timeout":
- This typically occurs when the data feed takes longer than expected to be processed, often due to a high number of products being handled in a single server request. You can try spreading out the indexing times in case of multiple search engines to allow a space of 1 to 2 hours in between each indexing time, see how to here.
Other recommendations:
- Check that the feed URL is accessible and our server can access it. Allowlist our IPs!