diff --git a/brian_dashboard_manager/grafana/dashboard.py b/brian_dashboard_manager/grafana/dashboard.py
index 0c1fc6296a0727065fa16d92fdcf5c28a8ba32f5..0190ec0535c2baba08b79e04927649b478eb1b71 100644
--- a/brian_dashboard_manager/grafana/dashboard.py
+++ b/brian_dashboard_manager/grafana/dashboard.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 NUM_RETRIES = 3
 
+
 def get_dashboard_definitions(dir=None):
     """
     Returns dictionary for each dashboard JSON definition in supplied directory
@@ -240,9 +241,11 @@ def create_dashboard(request: TokenRequest, dashboard: dict, folder_id=None):
         except HTTPError as e:
             message = ''
             if e.response is not None and e.response.status_code < 500:
+                # log the error message from Grafana
                 message = e.response.json()
             logger.exception(f'Error when provisioning dashboard {title}: {message}')
+
+            # only retry on server side errors
             if e.response is not None and e.response.status_code < 500:
-                # only retry on server side errors
                 break
     return None
diff --git a/test/test_grafana_dashboard.py b/test/test_grafana_dashboard.py
index effec7094269999bcc2aaaf18af3b76e43339a2f..e3da83f02c59e21ca0d49348e396d11e8b1aec7b 100644
--- a/test/test_grafana_dashboard.py
+++ b/test/test_grafana_dashboard.py
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ def test_create_dashboard_no_uid_error(data_config):
         assert 'id' not in body['dashboard']
 
         # have already tested a successful response, respond with error here.
-        return 400, {}, ''
+        return 400, {}, '{}'
 
     responses.add_callback(
         method=responses.POST,