# ERROR: pip._vendor.requests.exceptions.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

- **ID:** `python/pip-json-decoding-error`
- **Domain:** python
- **Category:** network_error
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 80%

## Root Cause

Pip receives an empty or non-JSON response from a package index, often due to network issues or misconfigured index URL.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| 3.8 | active | — | — |
| 3.9 | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **Check the index URL for correctness** (90% success)
   ```
   Run: pip install -i https://pypi.org/simple/ package (ensure URL ends with /simple)
   ```
2. **Use a different index or mirror** (85% success)
   ```
   Run: pip install -i https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple package
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **Retrying with the same index URL** — The index URL may be broken; retries won't fix it. (90% fail)
- **Using a different HTTP method like POST** — Pip uses GET; changing method is not supported. (80% fail)