api-error-handling
Implement comprehensive API error handling with standardized error responses, logging, monitoring, retry logic, and validation patterns. Use when building resilient APIs, debugging issues, improving error reporting, implementing retry logic, handling HTTP error codes, managing API timeouts, designing error response handling, or adding circuit breaker patterns.
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Install
Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.
npx skills add https://github.com/aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts --skill api-error-handling- 01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
- 02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads api-error-handling automatically when relevant.
- 03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.
SKILL.md
The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.
API Error Handling
Table of Contents
Overview
Build robust error handling systems with standardized error responses, detailed logging, error categorization, and user-friendly error messages. This skill covers the full lifecycle from throwing typed errors through logging, monitoring, and client-facing response formatting.
When to Use
- Handling API errors consistently across endpoints
- Debugging production issues with request tracing
- Implementing error recovery strategies (retry, circuit breaker)
- Monitoring and alerting on error rates
- Providing meaningful, actionable error messages to clients
- Validating request inputs before processing
- Tracking error patterns over time
Quick Start
Minimal standardized error response format:
{
"error": {
"code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
"message": "Input validation failed",
"statusCode": 422,
"requestId": "req_abc123xyz789",
"timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
"details": [
{ "field": "email", "message": "Invalid email format", "code": "INVALID_EMAIL" }
]
}
}
Custom error class (Node.js):
class ApiError extends Error {
constructor(code, message, statusCode = null, details = null) {
super(message);
this.code = code;
this.statusCode = statusCode || ERROR_CODES[code]?.status || 500;
this.details = details;
this.timestamp = new Date().toISOString();
}
}
// Usage
throw new ApiError("NOT_FOUND", "User not found", 404);
throw new ApiError("VALIDATION_ERROR", "Missing fields", 422, fieldErrors);
Reference Guides
Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:
| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| Error Codes & Response Format | Complete ERROR_CODES map, response formatter, global middleware (Node.js + Python) |
| Retry Strategies & Circuit Breaker | Exponential backoff, jitter, circuit breaker pattern |
| Monitoring & Tracking | Sentry integration, error rate metrics, /metrics/errors endpoint |
| Validation Patterns | Input validation, schema guards, detecting bad responses before errors occur |
Best Practices
✅ DO
- Use a consistent error response format across all endpoints
- Include
requestIdandtraceIdin every error for observability - Log 5xx errors at
ERRORlevel; log 4xx atWARNlevel - Provide actionable error messages — tell the client what to fix
- Use standard HTTP status codes (4xx client errors, 5xx server errors)
- Implement retry with exponential backoff for transient failures
- Use circuit breakers to prevent cascade failures
- Validate inputs early and return all field errors at once
- Monitor error rates and alert on anomalous spikes
❌ DON'T
- Expose stack traces or internal implementation details to clients
- Return HTTP 200 for error responses
- Silently swallow errors
- Log sensitive data (passwords, tokens, PII)
- Use vague messages like "Something went wrong"
- Mix error handling logic with business logic
- Retry non-idempotent operations or client errors (4xx)
- Return different error shapes from different endpoints
FAQ
What does the api-error-handling skill do?
Implement comprehensive API error handling with standardized error responses, logging, monitoring, retry logic, and validation patterns. Use when building resilient APIs, debugging issues, improving error reporting, implementing retry logic, handling HTTP error codes, managing API timeouts, designing error response handling, or adding circuit breaker patterns.
How do I install api-error-handling?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts --skill api-error-handling in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/api-error-handling/ (personal) or .claude/skills/api-error-handling/ (project).
Which AI agents can use api-error-handling?
Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.
Is api-error-handling safe to install?
No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.
Who maintains api-error-handling?
It is published by aj-geddes in aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts. It has 508 recorded installs.
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