What happened?
If you send /api/recommend a "time" value that isn't exactly low, medium, or high, the whole request crashes with a 500 Internal Server Error. The input validation only checks that "time" is non-empty — it never checks the value is valid. When a bad value reaches TIME_AVAILABILITY.index() in utils/recommender.py, it throws an uncaught ValueError. Expected a clean 400 with an error message; got a 500 crash instead.
Steps to reproduce
POST to /api/recommend with this body:
{
"skills": "python",
"level": "beginner",
"interest": "web",
"time": "flexible"
}
The server returns 500. The same crash happens with any value that isn't low/medium/high, including typos like "med" or "anytime".
Expected behaviour
A bad "time" value should be rejected with a 400 Bad Request and a clear message, the same way the other invalid inputs are already handled. It should not crash with a 500.
Area of the app affected
Recommendation results
Python version
3.14
Operating system
Windows 11
Relevant error output or logs
File "utils/recommender.py", line 72, in score_single_project
time_availability_index = TIME_AVAILABILITY.index(time_availability.strip().lower())
ValueError: 'flexible' is not in listBefore submitting
What happened?
If you send /api/recommend a "time" value that isn't exactly low, medium, or high, the whole request crashes with a 500 Internal Server Error. The input validation only checks that "time" is non-empty — it never checks the value is valid. When a bad value reaches TIME_AVAILABILITY.index() in utils/recommender.py, it throws an uncaught ValueError. Expected a clean 400 with an error message; got a 500 crash instead.
Steps to reproduce
POST to /api/recommend with this body:
{
"skills": "python",
"level": "beginner",
"interest": "web",
"time": "flexible"
}
The server returns 500. The same crash happens with any value that isn't low/medium/high, including typos like "med" or "anytime".
Expected behaviour
A bad "time" value should be rejected with a 400 Bad Request and a clear message, the same way the other invalid inputs are already handled. It should not crash with a 500.
Area of the app affected
Recommendation results
Python version
3.14
Operating system
Windows 11
Relevant error output or logs
Before submitting