HTTP 500 Internal Server Error

What is HTTP 500 Internal Server Error?

The 500 (Internal Server Error) status code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request. This is a generic catch-all error response. It usually indicates a server-side programming error, configuration issue, or resource constraint. The response body may include debugging information in development environments but should be generic in production.

Common Use Cases

• Unhandled exceptions in server code
• Database connection failures
• Server configuration errors
• Memory exhaustion

// Laravel - custom 500 error response in exceptions handler
public function render($request, \Throwable $e)
{
    if ($this->isHttpException($e)) {
        return $this->renderHttpException($e);
    }
    
    Log::error('Server error: ' . $e->getMessage(), [
        'trace' => $e->getTraceAsString(),
        'request_id' => $requestId,
    ]);
    
    return response()->json([
        'error' => 'Internal server error',
        'request_id' => $requestId,
    ], 500);
}