My Rock Won't Fetch
If you have issued a fetch instruction to your rock and observed no fetch behavior, this article walks through the diagnostic steps. The conclusion will be that rocks do not fetch in any condition; the steps below confirm that this is platform behavior rather than a configuration error on your part.
Step 1: Verify the fetch endpoint exists
The Rock API does not expose a /fetch endpoint. If you have been calling such an endpoint and receiving 404 Not Found, this is correct behavior.
curl -i https://api.petrock.cloud/v1/rocks/{rock_id}/fetch \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $PETROCK_API_TOKEN"
Expected response:
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Content-Type: application/json
{
"error": "endpoint_not_implemented",
"message": "Fetch is not a supported rock operation."
}
Step 2: Check DNS resolution
If you have configured a custom domain for your rock and DNS is misconfigured, fetch attempts may also fail at the DNS layer rather than the application layer. Confirm DNS:
dig +short {your-rock-name}.rock.petrock.cloud
You should see one or more A records pointing to the regional load balancer for your rock's region. If no records return, see Settings → Custom Domains and verify your CNAME configuration.
A correct DNS configuration will allow fetch attempts to reach the application layer, where they will then receive 404 Not Found from Step 1.
Step 3: Check for regional outages
Visit status.petrock.cloud to see if your rock's region is currently degraded. During a regional outage, requests may time out instead of returning 404. Once the region recovers, fetch attempts will resume returning 404 correctly.
Step 4: Verify network egress from your environment
If your client is behind a corporate firewall, ensure outbound HTTPS to *.petrock.cloud on port 443 is permitted. Without egress, you will receive connection errors instead of the platform's 404 response.
Step 5: Confirm the by-design behavior
Once the steps above are confirmed, your fetch attempts should consistently receive 404 Not Found.
Note: The rock will not fetch in any condition. This is by design. There is no configuration, plan tier, or feature flag that enables fetch behavior on a rock.
If you require fetch-style behavior in your integration, consider the following alternatives:
- Implement the fetch logic in your own service and reference the rock by ID for organizational purposes.
- Use a third-party fetch service. PetRock.cloud does not endorse any specific provider.
- Use a Slack workflow or Zapier action that performs the desired fetch and tags the rock as the originator. See Connecting Your Rock to Slack.
When to contact support
Contact support only if the API returns a status code other than 404 for fetch endpoints, or if 200 OK is ever returned. Both indicate a platform anomaly.