HTTP 202 Accepted — Meaning, Causes & How to Fix
The request has been accepted for processing, but the processing has not been completed.
- Code
- 202
- Name
- Accepted
- Class
- 2xx Success
- Specification
- RFC 9110 §15.3.3
- Cacheable by default
- Only with explicit Cache-Control / Expires
What HTTP 202 means
202 Accepted says the server accepted the request but has not finished it — the work is queued or running in the background and may still fail. HTTP has no way to report the later outcome, so APIs usually return a link to a status resource the client can poll.
Common causes
- Asynchronous jobs: video encoding, report exports, bulk imports, sending email.
How to fix it
For site owners
- Include a status URL (in
Locationor the body) and, optionally,Retry-After. - Do not use 202 for work that already completed — return 200 or 201.
For visitors & developers
- Poll the status URL until the job reports done or failed; respect any
Retry-After.
SEO impact
No SEO impact. It is an API pattern, not a page status.
Example 202 response
HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
Location: /api/jobs/88a1
Retry-After: 10
Content-Type: application/json
{"job":"88a1","state":"queued"}Related status codes
Check or look up another code
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Open HTTP Status Codes tool →All status codesFrequently asked questions
What does HTTP 202 mean?
HTTP 202 Accepted is a 2xx Success status code. The request has been accepted for processing, but the processing has not been completed.
Does 202 mean the job succeeded?
No. It only means the request was accepted. The job can still fail; check the status resource the server gives you.
Which specification defines 202?
It is defined in RFC 9110 §15.3.3.
Is a 202 response cacheable?
Not by default. A 202 response is only stored by caches when it carries explicit freshness information such as Cache-Control: max-age or Expires.