About

Imported from jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace (plugins/saas-packs/serpapi-pack/skills/serpapi-common-errors/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace --skill serpapi-common-errors. Copyright stays with the author (MIT).

SerpApi Common Errors

Name: serpapi-common-errors
Author: jeremylongshore

Overview

Quick reference for SerpApi errors. Check search_metadata.status first -- it will be Success or Error. Error details are in search_metadata.error or error at the top level.

Error Reference

Invalid API Key

{ "error": "Invalid API key. Your API key should be here: https://serpapi.com/manage-api-key" }

Fix: Verify key at serpapi.com/manage-api-key. Check env var is loaded.

Account Disabled / Searches Exhausted

{ "error": "Your searches for the month have run out. You can upgrade your plan at https://serpapi.com/pricing" }

Fix: Check usage: curl "https://serpapi.com/account.json?api_key=$SERPAPI_API_KEY". Upgrade plan or wait for monthly reset.

Missing Required Parameter

{ "error": "Missing parameter: q. Please provide a search query." }

Fix: Each engine has different query params. Google/Bing use q, YouTube uses search_query.

Google CAPTCHA / Blocked

{ "search_metadata": { "status": "Error" }, "error": "Google hasn't returned any results for this query." }

Fix: SerpApi handles CAPTCHAs automatically, but unusual queries or very high volume may trigger blocks. Try different location or wait.

Empty Organic Results (Not an Error)

result = client.search(engine="google", q="xyzzy123nonexistent")
if not result.get("organic_results"):
    # Not an error -- query just has no results
    # Check for answer_box, knowledge_graph, etc.
    print("No organic results, checking other components...")
    print(f"Answer box: {result.get('answer_box')}")
    print(f"Related searches: {result.get('related_searches')}")

Quick Diagnostic

# 1. Check API key and account status
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/account.json?api_key=$SERPAPI_API_KEY" | jq '{
  plan: .plan_name, used: .this_month_usage, remaining: .plan_searches_left
}'

# 2. Test basic search
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/search.json?q=test&engine=google&api_key=$SERPAPI_API_KEY" \
  | jq '.search_metadata.status'

# 3. Check search archive (last 10 searches)
curl -s "https://serpapi.com/searches.json?api_key=$SERPAPI_API_KEY" \
  | jq '.[0:3] | .[] | {id: .id, status: .status, query: .search_parameters.q}'

Error Handling

Error	Retryable	Action
Invalid API key	No	Fix key
Searches exhausted	No	Upgrade plan
CAPTCHA/blocked	Sometimes	Change location, wait
Timeout	Yes	Retry with backoff
Missing parameter	No	Fix request params
500 server error	Yes	Retry 2-3 times

Resources

SerpApi Status
Account API
Playground (test queries interactively)

Next Steps

For comprehensive debugging, see serpapi-debug-bundle.

Use it

Copy one of these into your project. Installing also returns the manifest and these snippets.

yaml

targets:
  - https://api.opensmartroute.ai/api/v1/registry/jeremylongshore-tons-of-skills-marketplace-serpapi-commo-52bec4/manifest   # or paste the manifest below

Manifest

An Open Capability Manifest: the router reads it to know what this does, what it costs and when to pick it.

jeremylongshore-tons-of-skills-marketplace-serpapi-commo-52bec4.ocm.jsonjson

{
  "ocm": "1",
  "id": "jeremylongshore-tons-of-skills-marketplace-serpapi-commo-52bec4",
  "kind": "skill",
  "name": "serpapi-common-errors",
  "description": "Diagnose and fix SerpApi errors: invalid keys, exhausted credits, blocked searches. Use when SerpApi returns errors, empty results, or unexpected status codes. Trigger: \"serpapi error\", \"fix serpapi\", \"serpapi not working\", \"serpapi empty results\".",
  "publisher": "jeremylongshore",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "capabilities": {
    "domains": [
      "customer_support"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "skill-md",
      "saas",
      "search",
      "seo",
      "serpapi",
      "skills-sh"
    ],
    "languages": [
      "en"
    ]
  },
  "quality_prior": 0.6,
  "examples": [
    "Diagnose and fix SerpApi errors: invalid keys, exhausted credits, blocked searches. Use when SerpApi returns errors, empty results, or unexpected status codes. Trigger: \"serpapi error\", \"fix serpapi\", \"serpapi not working\", \"serpapi empty results\"."
  ],
  "primary": false,
  "metadata": {
    "source": {
      "provider": "skills.sh",
      "repository": "https://github.com/jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace",
      "path": "plugins/saas-packs/serpapi-pack/skills/serpapi-common-errors/SKILL.md",
      "ref": "HEAD",
      "url": "https://github.com/jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace/blob/HEAD/plugins/saas-packs/serpapi-pack/skills/serpapi-common-errors/SKILL.md",
      "key": "jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace/plugins/saas-packs/serpapi-pack/skills/serpapi-common-errors/SKILL.md"
    },
    "compatibility": "Designed for Claude Code",
    "allowed_tools": [
      "Read,",
      "Grep,",
      "Bash(curl:*)"
    ],
    "license": "MIT"
  },
  "instructions": "# SerpApi Common Errors\n\n## Overview\n\nQuick reference for SerpApi errors. Check `search_metadata.status` first -- it will be `Success` or `Error`. Error details are in `search_metadata.error` or `error` at the top level.\n\n## Error Reference\n\n### Invalid API Key\n\n```json\n{ \"error\": \"Invalid API key. Your API key should be here: https://serpapi.com/manage-api-key\" }\n```\n\n**Fix:** Verify key at serpapi.com/manage-api-key. Check env var is loaded.\n\n### Account Disabled / Searches Exhausted\n\n```json\n{ \"error\": \"Your searches for the month have run out. You can upgrade your plan at https://serpapi.c",
  "cost": {
    "context_tokens": 718
  }
}

Fetch it by URL: GET /api/v1/registry/jeremylongshore-tons-of-skills-marketplace-serpapi-commo-52bec4/manifest?version=1.0.0

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