Qualtrics API reported a temporary internal server error (500) | Experience Community
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Qualtrics API reported a temporary internal server error (500)

  • February 6, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 30 views
venturatds
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Hello,

This morning I started getting an error when accessing the qualtrics API. This is run in R. Any ideas what this could be? Anyone else having a similar issue?

 

#### CODE

# Packages -------

pacman::p_load(tidyverse, here, tidylog, janitor, jtools, reprex)

options(scipen = 999)

# get tokens

data_center_qalt = "ca1.qualtrics.com" qualtRics::qualtrics_api_credentials(api_key =Sys.getenv("qualtrics_nyu_key"),     base_url = data_center_qalt)

#> To install your credentials for use in future sessions, run this function with `install = TRUE`.

 

# access the survey id on qualtrics  

temp = qualtRics::all_surveys()

 

#> Error in `qualtrics_response_codes()`:#> ! After 4 attempts, Qualtrics API reported a temporary internal server error (500):#> • Please contact Qualtrics Support or retry your query#> • errorCode: SURVEYS_1.2# reproduceprint(temp)#> Error: object 'temp' not foundCreated on 2026-02-05 with [reprex v2.1.1](https://reprex.tidyverse.org/)

 

    3 replies

    Lpena
    Qualtrics Employee
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    • Lpena
    • Qualtrics Employee
    • February 10, 2026

    Hey, venturatds. How are you?


    That 500 Internal Server Error in R can be a real headache, especially when it feels like your code is doing everything right! Since a 500 error is technically a "server-side" issue, it usually means the Qualtrics server hit a snag it didn't know how to handle.

    In many cases, this is just a transient "blip" caused by high traffic or temporary service slowness. If your script is hitting the API hard with many concurrent requests, the server might occasionally tap out. The Qualtrics package in R actually has some built-in retry logic, but if you're consistently seeing it fail after those attempts, it's time to dig a little deeper.

    Quick Troubleshooting Checklist:

    • The "Wait and See" Method: Since these are often temporary, try running your script again in 15–30 minutes. If it suddenly works, it was likely just a spike in volume on the server.

    • Check Your Base URL: Double-check that your base_url is formatted correctly (e.g., yourdatacenterid.qualtrics.com). If a request gets re-routed internally because the URL is slightly off, it can sometimes trigger a timeout or a 500 error under heavy load.

    • Simplify the Request: If you're fetching a massive survey, try using parameters like startDate or endDate to pull a smaller chunk of data. Smaller payloads are much easier for the server to process.

    • Isolate the Issue: Try running the same request in a tool like Postman. If Postman gives you a clean 200 OK while R is still struggling, the issue might be related to how your R environment is handling the connection or headers.

    If this is happening consistently and blocking your work, the best move is to grab the Request ID and the Response Body from your R console. Having those specific logs makes it much easier for the technical team to trace exactly what happened on the backend.

    You can reach out to the API experts at the Customer Success Hub to have them investigate the server logs for your specific brand. They can let you know if there's an ongoing service degradation or a specific limit you're hitting: https://support-portal.qualtrics.com/ 👨‍💻

    venturatds
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    • venturatds
    • Author
    • February 18, 2026

    Hi LPena,

     

    Thanks for your reply. I basically tried all the options you mentioned and I am still getting the same issue. This is the error code, if it helps in any way: • errorCode: SURVEYS_1.2

     

    I have another qualtrics account, from another institution, and it works fine. So it is something specific with this account. I also tried to reset my api token, and it did not work. 

     

    I also contacted the Qualtrics Team, and they gave me 40 day (!!!) deadline to solve the issue. 

     

    any other ideas?

    Lpena
    Qualtrics Employee
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    • Lpena
    • Qualtrics Employee
    • February 18, 2026

    Hey Venturatds

    This means that this has been sent to the engineering team, and this is actually a broken issue. I can recommend that, in case you are the Brand Admin, just reach out to your Account Executive to escalate this issue, if needed. 

    Unfortunately, this is as far I know, and someone in the team of Engineering should be reviewing this 

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