Here's a clean and concise list of HTTP status codes, their meaning, and when to use them:

✅ 200 OK

• Meaning: Request succeeded.

• Use When: Data is successfully retrieved or updated.

✅ 201 Created

• Meaning: Resource created successfully.

• Use When: After a successful POST (create) request.

✅ 204 No Content

• Meaning: Request succeeded, no content to return.

• Use When: After a successful DELETE or PUT when there's nothing to return.

⚠️ 400 Bad Request

• Meaning: Invalid request from the client.

• Use When: Required data is missing or malformed in the request.

🔒 401 Unauthorized

• Meaning: Authentication required.

• Use When: User must log in or provide a valid token.

⛔ 403 Forbidden

• Meaning: Access denied.

• Use When: User is authenticated but not allowed to access the resource.

❓ 404 Not Found

• Meaning: Resource not found.

• Use When: The requested URL or resource does not exist.

💥 500 Internal Server Error

• Meaning: Server encountered an error.

• Use When: Something unexpected breaks on the server.

⚠️ 422 Unprocessable Entity

• Meaning: Valid request format, but semantic error.

• Use When: The server understands the data, but something is logically wrong (e.g. invalid email format, missing required fields).

🔁 405 Method Not Allowed

• Meaning: Method not supported for this route.

• Use When: For example, using POST on a route that only allows GET.