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All exceptions are available under valaw.Exceptions. See the Exceptions reference for the full list.

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Basic error handling

Wrap API calls in a try/except to handle errors gracefully: 
import valaw
import asyncio

async def main():
    client = valaw.Client("YOUR_TOKEN", "americas")
    try:
        account = await client.GET_getByRiotId("PlayerName", "NA1")
        print(f"Found: {account.gameName}#{account.tagLine}")
    except valaw.Exceptions.RiotAPIResponseError as e:
        print(f"API error {e.status_code}: {e.status_message}")
    except valaw.Exceptions.InvalidCluster as e:
        print(f"Invalid cluster: {e}")
    finally:
        await client.close()

asyncio.run(main())

​
Handling rate limits (429)

When you exceed the rate limit, a RiotAPIResponseError is raised with status code 429. Retry after a delay: 
import valaw
import asyncio

async def request_with_retry(fn, max_retries=2):
    """Call fn(), retrying once on 429 after a delay."""
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            return await fn()
        except valaw.Exceptions.RiotAPIResponseError as e:
            if e.status_code == 429 and attempt == 0:
                print("Rate limited, retrying in 10s...")
                await asyncio.sleep(10)
            else:
                raise

# Usage
async def main():
    client = valaw.Client("YOUR_TOKEN", "americas")
    try:
        account = await request_with_retry(
            lambda: client.GET_getByRiotId("PlayerName", "NA1")
        )
        print(account.gameName)
    finally:
        await client.close()

​
Handling not found (404)

async def get_account(client, game_name, tag_line):
    try:
        return await client.GET_getByRiotId(game_name, tag_line)
    except valaw.Exceptions.RiotAPIResponseError as e:
        if e.status_code == 404:
            print(f"{game_name}#{tag_line} not found")
            return None
        raise  # re-raise other errors

​
Handling auth errors (401/403)

async def main():
    client = valaw.Client("YOUR_TOKEN", "americas")
    try:
        account = await client.GET_getByRiotId("PlayerName", "NA1")
    except valaw.Exceptions.RiotAPIResponseError as e:
        if e.status_code == 401:
            print("API key expired or invalid")
        elif e.status_code == 403:
            print("API key doesn't have access to this endpoint — use a production key")
        else:
            raise
    finally:
        await client.close()

​
Handling validation errors

Validation errors are raised before making any network request: 
import valaw

# InvalidRiotAPIKey — raised in Client.__init__
try:
    client = valaw.Client(token="", cluster="americas")
except valaw.Exceptions.InvalidRiotAPIKey:
    print("API key is required")

# InvalidCluster — raised in Client.__init__
try:
    client = valaw.Client(token="YOUR_TOKEN", cluster="invalid")
except valaw.Exceptions.InvalidCluster as e:
    print(f"Invalid cluster: {e}")

# InvalidQueue — raised before the API call
async def main():
    client = valaw.Client("YOUR_TOKEN", "americas")
    try:
        matches = await client.GET_getRecent("not-a-queue", "na")
    except valaw.Exceptions.InvalidQueue as e:
        print(f"Invalid queue: {e}")
    finally:
        await client.close()

​
Full example

import asyncio
import os
import valaw
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

async def request_with_retry(fn, max_retries=2):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            return await fn()
        except valaw.Exceptions.RiotAPIResponseError as e:
            if e.status_code == 429 and attempt == 0:
                print("Rate limited, retrying in 10s...")
                await asyncio.sleep(10)
            else:
                raise

async def main():
    api_token = os.getenv("RIOT_API_TOKEN")
    if not api_token:
        raise ValueError("RIOT_API_TOKEN is not set")

    client = valaw.Client(api_token, "americas")

    try:
        recent = await request_with_retry(
            lambda: client.GET_getRecent("competitive", "na")
        )
        print(f"Found {len(recent.matchIds)} recent matches")
    except valaw.Exceptions.RiotAPIResponseError as e:
        if e.status_code == 403:
            print("403 Forbidden — make sure you're using a production key")
        elif e.status_code == 404:
            print("No data found")
        else:
            print(f"API error {e.status_code}: {e.status_message}")
    finally:
        await client.close()

asyncio.run(main())
Full details on response codes can be found in the Riot Games documentation.