Error Handling Pattern

Consistent, type-safe API error responses with custom error classes, centralized error handlers, structured response formats, and client-side error parsing.

What's Included#

• Custom error class hierarchy (AppError, NotFoundError, UnauthorizedError, ForbiddenError, ValidationError, ConflictError, RateLimitError)
• Structured error response format with message, code, and details
• Error handler wrapper for route handlers that catches Zod, app, and unknown errors
• Error logging utility that distinguishes operational errors from system errors
• Client-side API request helper with typed error parsing
• Zod validation error formatting into field-level error maps

Usage#

Via CLI#

Via AI Assistant#

Ask your AI assistant:

• "Use the error handling pattern from Bootspring"
• "Apply the Bootspring error handling pattern to my project"

Key Considerations#

• Create specific error classes for each failure type with appropriate HTTP status codes
• Include machine-readable error codes alongside messages for programmatic client handling
• Never expose stack traces or internal details in API error responses
• Distinguish operational errors (expected, like 404) from system errors (bugs, like unhandled exceptions)
• Log system errors for debugging but only return generic messages to clients
• Use a consistent error response structure across all API endpoints

Related Patterns#

• Route Handler - API endpoint implementation
• Middleware - Request preprocessing
• Validation - Input validation with Zod