FAQs & Troubleshooting

Authentication & Authorization

Q: I receive 401 Unauthorized on every request. What should I check?

•  Ensure the Authorization header is present and formatted as: Bearer <token>
•  Verify the token has not expired. JWT tokens include an exp claim — decode it to check.
•  Confirm the token was issued for the correct CCM environment (production vs. staging).
•  Check for trailing whitespace or newlines in the token string.

Q: I received 403 Forbidden even though I am authenticated.

•  Your account must have the SUPER_ADMIN, ADMIN, or DESIGNER role to call any CCM External API endpoint.
•  Contact your TrustArc account administrator to verify and update your role assignment.
•  Roles take effect on the next token issuance — obtain a fresh token after a role change.
Website Management

Q: I received 207 Multi-Status. What does this mean?

It means that at least one URL succeeded and at least one failed. Always iterate over every item in the response array and inspect the status and message fields. Do not assume all operations completed successfully just because you received a 2xx response.

Q: A URL I tried to add appears in the response with status ALREADY_EXISTS.

The website is already registered in the specified Cookie Consent Manager. This is not a critical error — you can safely skip these entries. If you believe this is incorrect, verify the cmUuid you are targeting.

Q: Can I send more than one website per request?

Yes. The Websites field accepts an array. Batch multiple URLs in a single request to reduce round-trips. Each URL is processed independently, and results are returned as an array with per-URL status.

Scans

Q: I receive 409 Conflict when trying to create a scan.

A scan is already running for the specified website. Wait for the current scan to complete before submitting a new request. Implement a polling or webhook-based mechanism to detect when scans finish.

Q: I receive 404 Not Found when creating a scan.

•  The websiteId you provided does not exist in the specified cmUuid.
•  Ensure the website was added via the POST /external/v1/websites endpoint before triggering a scan.
•  Double-check the cmUuid — websites are scoped per Consent Manager instance.

Q: The scan API returned 201, but I see no scan results in the portal.

The 201 response confirms the scan was queued, not that it has completed. Cookie scans are asynchronous and may take several minutes to hours depending on the size of the site. Check the portal after allowing sufficient processing time.

General

Q: What is the rate limit for the External API?

Rate limit thresholds vary by account tier. Contact your TrustArc Account Manager for your specific limits. Implement exponential backoff when receiving 429 Too Many Requests responses.

Q: How do I find my cmUuid?

•  Log into the TrustArc CCM portal.
•  Navigate to your Cookie Consent Manager Settings page.
•  The UUID is displayed in the page URL or the Settings panel, formatted as a standard UUID (e.g., a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890).

Q: Which HTTP methods are supported for DELETE /websites?

The Remove Websites endpoint uses HTTP DELETE with a request body. Some HTTP clients and proxies do not support body payloads on DELETE requests. If you encounter issues, confirm your HTTP client is configured to allow a request body on DELETE. As an alternative, contact TrustArc support about your specific client limitations.

Q: Are there sandbox or staging environments available?

Yes. TrustArc provides a staging environment for integration testing. Request staging credentials from your account manager. Use separate tokens for staging vs. production to avoid unintended data changes.

Contacting Support

If you encounter issues not covered in this guide:

Email: api-support@trustarc.com
Include in your report: the full request (redact your token), the complete response body, the timestamp from any error message, and your account identifier.
For urgent production issues: use the priority support channel provided in your service agreement.
TrustArc  ·  CCM External API  ·  https://trustarc.com/