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HTTP Status Code

207 Multi-Status

Success

The response contains multiple status codes for multiple independent operations.

HTTP status code reference, response example, common causes, fixes, and related status codes.

What does HTTP 207 Multi-Status mean?

HTTP 207 Multi-Status is a status code sent by a server to indicate the result of an HTTP request.

Status codes help browsers, APIs, apps, and backend systems understand whether a request succeeded, failed, was redirected, or needs additional action.

In practice, HTTP 207 Multi-Status usually appears when a server responds under specific request, validation, permission, or infrastructure conditions.

Response example

HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
    Content-Type: application/xml

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <multistatus xmlns="DAV:">
      <response>
        <href>/files/doc.txt</href>
        <status>HTTP/1.1 200 OK</status>
      </response>
      <response>
        <href>/files/missing.txt</href>
        <status>HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found</status>
      </response>
    </multistatus>

HTTP example

HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status

Common causes

  • WebDAV batch operations
  • Bulk API requests where each item has its own result
  • Partial success in multi-resource operations

How to fix it

  • Parse each individual status in the response body
  • Handle mixed success and failure results per resource

Common mistakes

  • Assuming the status code alone explains the full backend issue
  • Ignoring related response headers that add important context
  • Treating temporary errors as permanent failures
  • Retrying too aggressively without checking the cause
  • Debugging the frontend only when the problem is server-side

How browsers and APIs use it

Browsers, APIs, and backend services use HTTP status codes to understand the outcome of a request. Depending on the status code, an application may render content, retry a request, redirect the user, show an error, or trigger a different flow in the client or server.

Practical developer insight

207 Multi-Status is defined in RFC 4918 for WebDAV but has been adopted by some REST APIs for batch operations. The actual per-item statuses are embedded in the response body, not the HTTP status line itself.

Related status codes

HTTP 200HTTP 208