error-taxonomy

name	error-taxonomy
description	Categorizes errors and defines consistent handling strategies. Ensures proper error boundaries, user-facing messages, and logging.

Error Taxonomy (The Classifier 🏷️)

"Every error deserves a proper funeral."

When to Activate

• Writing new API endpoints or services.
• Debugging error handling logic.
• User mentions: "error handling", "exception", "try-catch", "error boundary".

Error Categories

Category	Examples	Strategy
Validation	Invalid input, missing field	Return 422 + field-level errors
Authentication	Invalid token, expired session	Return 401 + redirect to login
Authorization	Forbidden resource	Return 403 + log attempt
Not Found	Missing record	Return 404 + user-friendly message
Business Logic	Insufficient balance, duplicate	Return 409/422 + business message
Infrastructure	DB down, service timeout	Return 503 + retry header + alert
Unknown	Uncaught exception	Return 500 + log full stack + alert

Rules

• NEVER expose stack traces to end users.
• ALWAYS log the full error internally.
• User-facing messages must be human-readable, not technical.
• Use error codes for machine-readable identification.
• Implement error boundaries in frontend (React ErrorBoundary, Vue errorCaptured).

Cost: Low