error-message-manager

name

error-message-manager

description

Rewrite vague, delayed, or low-context Julia error messages into structured, actionable diagnostics. Invoke this skill whenever the user mentions: error message, improve errors, rewrite @assert, ArgumentError, DimensionMismatch, DomainError, vague error, error rewrite, Julia exception, diagnostic, throw, validation, early check, assert to throw, loop context, catch and rethrow, warn string, or asks to improve how the code fails. Also use it when reviewing code for user-facing clarity, when a user says errors are confusing or unhelpful, or when auditing a module for low-context exceptions. Use it proactively when you see bare @assert, error("..."), throw(ErrorException(...)), @warn string(...), or catch blocks that do not include the original exception in their re-throw in Julia code you are reading or editing.

error-message-manager

Rewrite vague, delayed, or low-context Julia error messages into structured, actionable diagnostics. The goal is errors that tell the user exactly what went wrong, what was expected, what was received, and—whenever a likely fix exists— what to do next. Prefer catching mistakes early (at API boundaries) over letting them propagate into cryptic numerical failures.

Workflow

Step 0 — Offer an Explore agent for multi-file scope

If the user's request covers more than one file — a whole directory, a module, or the entire repo — offer to spawn an Explore agent before doing any file reads yourself. The agent runs all the reads in parallel without flooding the main context, and returns a structured inventory you can act on directly.

When to offer: any time the target is a directory path (e.g. src/) or a vague scope like "the whole package" or "all the source files".

Offer text (adapt as needed):

"This spans multiple files — I'd recommend spawning an Explore agent to survey all throw/@assert/error sites in parallel. It keeps the audit fast and leaves the main context clean for the actual rewrites. Want me to do that?"

Agent prompt to use (fill in <path> and <package_name>):

Audit `<path>` for error-raising patterns. Before reading individual files, grep
for two structurally-broken patterns that are the highest priority to fix:

  rg -n 'throw\s*\(\s*[A-Z]\w+\s*,' <path>   # throw(Type, "string") — always MethodError
  rg -n 'throw\s*\(\s*"' <path>              # throw("raw string") — throws non-exception

Then, for every `@assert`, `error(`, or `throw(` site in every `.jl` file:

1. Record: file, line number, exception type (or "bare @assert" / "bare error"),
   and the full message text (including multiline strings).
2. Classify message quality:
   - "broken" — structurally wrong throw that will never produce the intended
     exception: `throw(Type, "string")` (always MethodError), or `throw("string")`
     (throws a raw String, not catchable as a typed exception)
   - "good"  — has `$(expr)` interpolation showing the actual received value, and
     is either short (≤3 lines) or already in a `_throw_` helper function
   - "long-inline" — message content is good, but the message string body exceeds
     3 lines and the throw is written inline (not in a `_throw_` helper)
   - "vague" — missing a received value, or no Expected/Got structure
   - "missing" — bare `@assert` with no message at all
3. Note whether the site is at an API boundary (user-facing input) or an internal
   invariant (would require a package bug to fire).

Return a markdown table with columns:
  File | Line | Exception type | Quality | Notes (one-line note on what's wrong)

Focus only on sites that are "broken", "vague", "missing", or "long-inline" — skip "good" ones.
Fix "broken" sites first — they silently misbehave rather than just being unhelpful.

How to use the result: treat the returned table as your working inventory for Steps 1 and 2. You do not need to re-read the flagged files yourself to classify — go straight to reading only the lines that need rewrites (Step 3 onwards).

---

Step 1 — Audit the target scope

Identify which files or functions to address. If the user named a specific function, start there. If the request is repo-wide, run:

rg -n '(@assert[^(]|@assert\(|error\(string\(|throw\(ErrorException)' src/

Then collect all message-less @assert calls:

rg -n '@assert' src/ | grep -v '"'

Also flag @warn calls that use string concatenation instead of interpolation:

rg -n '@warn\s+string\(' src/

And flag catch blocks that discard the original exception when re-throwing:

rg -n 'catch\s' src/

For each catch hit, check whether the subsequent throw or error call interpolates the caught variable (e.g. $e or sprint(showerror, e)). If it does not, the original exception type and message are silently lost.

For each hit, record: file, line, the condition being checked, and whether it guards user-provided input (API boundary) or an internal invariant.

Step 2 — Classify each site

Use this table to choose the right exception type:

Condition	Exception
Invalid user-provided argument	ArgumentError
Array/matrix shape mismatch	DimensionMismatch
Inconsistent argument types across parameters	ArgumentError
Mathematically invalid value (negative variance, etc.)	DomainError
Invalid index	BoundsError
Internal invariant that should never fire	error(...)
Missing interface implementation	MethodError or structured ArgumentError

Avoid ErrorException unless there is no better choice.

Type mismatches vs dimension mismatches: an @assert isa(x_mean, AbstractVector{FT}) inside an if isa(x, AbstractMatrix{FT}) branch is checking that the user supplied consistent arguments (matrix ensemble → vector mean), not that two arrays have matching sizes. Use ArgumentError, not DimensionMismatch, for this pattern.

Distinguish API boundary sites (where the user passed something wrong — prefer typed exceptions with actionable messages) from internal invariant sites (where a bug in the package itself would have to exist — bare error(...) with a clear note is fine there).

Loop-body errors: if the throw is inside a for or while loop, treat the loop index and key per-iteration state as required context. Without this, the user sees "matrix is not positive definite" with no idea whether it happened on iteration 2 or iteration 200. Always capture i (or the loop variable) and the state that changed between iterations — the ensemble step count, the parameter vector being updated, the ensemble member index, etc. For nested loops, include both the outer and inner loop variables — the outer variable says which group or batch failed; the inner variable says which element within it failed. See the loop-context example in the Canonical examples section below.

catch e losing the original exception: when a Julia exception is caught and a new one is thrown, the new message must include the original exception. If it does not, the user loses the root cause (e.g. PosDefException, SingularException) and has no way to distinguish a code bug from a numerical issue. Use sprint(showerror, e) rather than $e alone — it formats the exception type and message together:

# anti-pattern — root cause vanishes
catch e
    throw(ArgumentError("Matrix factorization failed."))
end

# correct — root cause preserved
catch e
    throw(ArgumentError("""
Matrix factorization failed.

Caused by: $(sprint(showerror, e))

Suggestion:
    ...
"""))
end

Only suppress the original exception if it is a well-known internal Julia error (e.g. SingularException) and you are intentionally providing a higher-level fallback — and even then, log it at @debug level.

@warn string(...) concatenation: @warn string("...", x, "...") is the warning-side equivalent of error(string(...)) — it's noisy, hard to read, and doesn't benefit from Julia's interpolation. Rewrite as @warn "... $x ...". @warn messages that use structured strings are also easier to grep and suppress selectively.

Double-gated invariants: if a helper is only ever called after the public API has already checked the same condition (e.g., get_vector_of_parameterized is called from construct_prior only when d.args[1] == Symbol("VectorOfParameterized") is true), the check inside the helper is an internal invariant even though it looks like a user-data check. Use a single-line error(...) rather than a full structured ArgumentError:

# internal invariant — the caller already validated this
d.args[1] == Symbol("VectorOfParameterized") || error(
    "Internal error: get_vector_of_parameterized called with non-VectorOfParameterized expression (got $(d.args[1]))",
)

Step 2.5 — Decide: inline or helper?

Before writing the rewrite, decide whether the error belongs inline or should be extracted into a _throw_<what>(...) helper function.

When to extract — pull the error into a helper when either condition holds:

• Length (primary trigger): the message body exceeds 3 lines. Extract unconditionally — single call site, non-loop context, no surrounding complexity required. A full Expected / Got / Suggestion block always crosses this threshold. Even a one-off long block left inline establishes a pattern that makes entire files hard to scan, and accumulates quickly once a few exceptions are made.
• Duplication: the same error shape (same summary line, same Expected / Got / Suggestion skeleton) appears at ≥2 call sites. Extract even when each block is short — the wording drifts silently over time and the call sites collapse to readable one-liners.

Inline is appropriate only for genuinely short messages (≤3 lines) at a single call site. A single summary line, or a summary plus one Got line, is the ceiling for inline. When in doubt, count — if it doesn't fit in 3 lines, extract.

Count lines of the message string body, not lines of the surrounding throw(...) call. A single-line message formatted as throw(\n ArgumentError(\n "msg"\n )\n) across five code lines is still a 1-line message and does not require extraction.

Where helpers go

Default: a ## Error helpers section at the bottom of the source file, above end # module. Keeping helpers near their callers preserves traceability — the reader sees the throw site, jumps to the bottom of the same file, and finds the message without switching files.

Promote to a shared src/ErrorMessages.jl (or the repo's equivalent top-level utility file) only when ≥2 different source files call the same helper. Discover which file to use by reading the top-level module file (e.g. src/PackageName.jl) for its include(...) list — then add include("ErrorMessages.jl") as the first include so every subsequent file sees the helpers without any using/import.

Include-chained files: if the two source files are both include-d by a common parent file (e.g. ScalarRandomFeature.jl and VectorRandomFeature.jl are both included by RandomFeature.jl), add the shared helper to that parent file before the include(...) lines — no new file needed, and no using/import required.

Naming convention

_throw_<what>(positional_required_facts...; kwargs_for_optional_context...)

• Underscore prefix → unexported private helper.
• Verb prefix _throw_ → the function unconditionally raises; callers know there is no return value.
• Suffix describes the failure mode: _dim_mismatch, _missing_keys, _bad_obs_type, _not_iterable.

Signature convention

Pass the facts that are always present as positional arguments (the offending value, the expected vs got summary). Pass optional context as keyword arguments with nothing defaults — especially loop context (index, total, iter, phase). Build optional sections inside the helper by checking isnothing(...). This keeps call sites compact and lets the same helper serve both loop and non-loop contexts (see the Helper with optional loop context canonical example).

Performance: use @noinline

Prefix every helper with @noinline. This prevents Julia from inlining the cold error path into the surrounding hot code, keeping numerical kernels unaffected:

@noinline function _throw_x_not_iterable(x; where::Symbol)
    throw(ArgumentError(...))
end

What NOT to do

• Don't create a catch-all _throw_arg_error(msg::String) — that just shifts the inline triple-quoted block to another file without any DRY benefit.
• Don't use macros (@check_dim(...)) — they're magical and harder to debug than plain functions.
• Don't bundle all context into one opaque context::NamedTuple — explicit kwargs are clearer to call and easier to extend.

Step 3 — Rewrite with the canonical layout

Use this structure for every user-facing exception:

throw(ArgumentError("""
Short one-line summary of the failure.

Expected:
    <what would have been valid>

Got:
    <what was actually received, with interpolated values>

Loop context:
    iteration  = $iter (of $n_iter)
    <key per-iteration state variable> = $(summary_of_state)

Context:
    <surrounding state that helps locate the problem>

Suggestion:
    <most likely fix>
"""))

Section rules:

• Summary: always present; one line; imperative or declarative.
• Expected / Got: strongly preferred for any mismatch check; use $(expr) interpolation to show actual values.
• Loop context: include whenever the throw is inside a for or while loop. Always report the loop index and the key state that varies between iterations (e.g., the EKI step number, the ensemble member index, or the parameter being updated). This is what lets the user reproduce the failure without adding println debugging. Omit for errors that can only fire at a fixed point in the code (before the loop starts or after it ends).
• Context: include when the same error can arise from multiple call sites and naming the calling function or struct helps the user orient.
• Suggestion: include whenever a likely fix exists. Omit rather than write a generic platitude.
• Never dump full matrices or large arrays. Prefer size(x), eltype(x), typeof(x), or a scalar summary statistic.

Step 4 — Move validation early

If the current code lets an invalid input reach a numerical routine before failing (e.g., cholesky on a non-symmetric matrix, inv on a singular one), add an explicit guard at the API boundary:

# Before: error surfaces deep in cholesky
cov_chol = cholesky(C)

# After: check at the boundary, raise immediately
issymmetric(C) || throw(ArgumentError("""
Covariance matrix must be symmetric.

Got:
    size(C) = $(size(C))
    norm(C - C') = $(norm(C - C'))

Suggestion:
    Pass a symmetric matrix, e.g. `C = (C + C') / 2`.
"""))
cov_chol = cholesky(C)

Use || for single-condition guards. For multi-condition guards, use if/throw.

When using || with a multiline triple-quoted throw, the closing )) goes on its own line immediately after the closing """:

condition || throw(ArgumentError("""
Summary line.

Expected:
    ...

Got:
    ...
"""))   # ← closing )) on the line right after the closing """

This is the only layout that keeps indentation correct — triple-quoted strings in Julia do not strip leading whitespace, so indenting the message body would include those spaces in the string.

Step 5 — Preserve domain language

Write messages in terms the user understands, not in terms of internal Julia dispatch or linear algebra internals. For example:

• Say "ensemble member count" not "size(x, 2)"
• Say "parameter covariance matrix" not "the second argument to cholesky"
• Say "observation noise covariance" not "Γ_y"
• Say "emulator training samples" not "io_pairs column count" or "n_train"
• Say "encoder pipeline" not "encoder_schedule vector"
• Say "fraction of variance to retain" not "retain_var threshold"
• Say "MCMC step size" or "proposal variance" not "proposal standard deviation scalar"
• Say "data processor" when referring to ElementwiseScaler, Decorrelator, CanonicalCorrelation, or LikelihoodInformed — not "utility type" or "struct"

Step 6 — Apply rewrites

Edit each site, keeping the surrounding code untouched. Confirm the package still loads:

julia --project -e 'using CalibrateEmulateSample'

Step 7 — Add @test_throws tests

Step 7a — Scan for stale @test_throws (run this before editing any source line)

Whenever you change an exception type (e.g. ErrorException → ArgumentError), run this grep before touching the source file:

grep -rn '@test_throws OldType' test/

Every hit is a test that will break or silently go stale the moment your source edit lands. Update each hit in the same edit as the source change — never as a follow-up. This is not optional: a stale @test_throws WrongType either fails CI on the new code or passes forever without catching a regression — either way it no longer protects anything.

This step is easy to skip because source and tests live in different files and the stale test produces no compile error — it only surfaces when the test suite runs. Running the grep first makes the problem visible before it bites you.

Step 7b — Check existing coverage

Before writing any test, check whether coverage already exists. Grep the matching test/<module>/runtests.jl for the public API function that reaches the rewritten site:

grep -n '@test_throws' test/<module>/runtests.jl | grep '<function_name>'

Three outcomes:

Situation	Action
@test_throws <correct_type> already present	Skip — do not add a duplicate
@test_throws <wrong_type> already present	Update the existing line to the new type
No coverage at all	Add a new test

Check message content, not just type: In Julia 1.8+, @test_throws returns the caught exception, so you can pin key diagnostic text in the same block:

let thrown = @test_throws ArgumentError f(bad_input)
    @test contains(thrown.value.msg, "retain_var")       # Got section present
    @test contains(thrown.value.msg, repr(bad_input))    # received value interpolated
end

Add at least one contains check per new error site. Without this, a refactor can preserve the exception type while silently dropping the Got section or the interpolated value, and no test will catch it. Check for: a phrase from the summary line, the Got section label (e.g. "retain_var", "ensemble size"), and repr(bad_value) when the message uses repr. The let block is the cleanest form — it keeps the type assertion and the content assertions co-located.

For every site that needs a new test, add it in the matching test/<module>/runtests.jl:

let thrown = @test_throws ArgumentError Decorrelator(rand(5, 10); retain_var = -0.1)
    @test contains(thrown.value.msg, "retain_var")
    @test contains(thrown.value.msg, "-0.1")
end

Use the specific exception type — never bare @test_throws Exception. The test should construct the minimal invalid input that triggers the new error, without duplicating happy-path coverage.

Testing unexported helpers. If the site is inside an unexported helper (e.g., construct_constraint, construct_2d_array), do not import the internal directly. Instead, test through the nearest exported public API function that calls it, using invalid input that propagates to the helper:

# construct_constraint is unexported — test via get_parameter_distribution
no_constraint_dict = Dict("uq_param" => Dict("prior" => "Parameterized(Normal(0.0, 1.0))"))
let thrown = @test_throws ArgumentError get_parameter_distribution(no_constraint_dict, "uq_param")
    @test contains(thrown.value.msg, "constraint")
end

This keeps tests coupled to the public contract and avoids brittleness when internal function names change.

Step 7c — Add a resolution test when the Suggestion is a concrete fix

When the Suggestion section gives a concrete, demonstrable fix, add a resolution test immediately after the @test_throws block. The test applies the fix and asserts the result is valid. If the suggestion is ever wrong or the API changes, this test will fail and flag the stale message.

A fix qualifies as concrete when it can be demonstrated in a short test expression:

• A keyword argument change (encode = "in")
• A reshape or transpose of an argument (reshape(x, :, 1))
• Replacing one construction with another (Diagonal(fill(λ, d)) instead of λ * I)
• A different constructor or type choice (ForwardDiffProtocol instead of a custom one)

The fix doesn't have to be on the exact same call expression as the error — it's fine to construct corrected input in a line or two before the assertion. What matters is that the test is short, self-contained, and directly demonstrates the suggestion.

# @test_throws block (Step 7b)
let thrown = @test_throws DimensionMismatch predict(emulator, bad_inputs)
    @test contains(thrown.value.msg, "encode")
    @test contains(thrown.value.msg, "\"in\"")
end

# Resolution test (Step 7c) — following the suggestion must not throw
@test predict(emulator, bad_inputs; encode = "in") isa AbstractMatrix

# Another example — fix requires constructing corrected input first
let thrown = @test_throws ArgumentError create_compact_linear_map(3 * I)
    @test contains(thrown.value.msg, "Diagonal")
end
@test size(create_compact_linear_map(Diagonal(fill(3.0, 3)))) == (3, 3)

Use a plain @test f(...) isa T or @test size(f(...)) == (m, n) — Julia's test runner errors if f(...) throws, so no special macro is needed. Pick the narrowest assertion that makes sense for the return type.

Skip the resolution test for advisory suggestions where the fix requires domain knowledge or data the test can't construct: "check that your data is not degenerate", "increase alg_reg_noise", "pass a symmetric matrix". The dividing line is whether the fix can be expressed as a small, self-contained code change.

Step 8 — Offer to improve the skill

Once the rewrites and tests are clean, offer: "Would you like to improve the error-message-manager skill itself using skill-creator? You can share suggestions, or I can analyse patterns from this session—recurring edge cases, exception-type decisions, or anything that felt awkward—to refine the skill for next time."

---

Style rules

• Triple-quoted strings for all multiline messages.
• No full matrix dumps. Use size(x), eltype(x), norm(x - ...), or extrema(x) instead.
• Interpolate actual values in Got sections so the user sees the numbers, not just variable names. For String-typed arguments use $(repr(x)) rather than $(x) — it adds the surrounding quotes so the output clearly reads as a string value (e.g. Got: sigma_points = "bad" instead of Got: sigma_points = bad).
• Raise early: prefer guarding at the function entry point over deep inside a helper.
• No @assert for user-facing validation. @assert is a debugging tool; it can be compiled out. Use explicit throw instead.
• Loop state in Got / Loop context: when a throw is inside a for or while loop, always name the iteration index and the key state from that iteration. A "convergence failed" message without the step count forces the user to add println debugging to reproduce the failure. When the same loop-context check recurs at multiple sites, the loop variables become optional kwargs on a _throw_<what> helper — see the Helper with optional loop context canonical example.
• Preserve the original exception in catch blocks: if you catch e and throw a new exception, include $(sprint(showerror, e)) in the new message. Dropping e silently discards the root cause.
• @warn with interpolation, not string(): replace @warn string("x=", x) with @warn "x = $x". String concatenation in warnings is harder to read and grep.
• Single-line messages are fine when the failure is unambiguous and no Expected/Got context would add clarity.
• Extract into _throw_<what>(...) helpers whenever the message body exceeds 3 lines, or when the same Expected / Got / Suggestion skeleton appears at ≥2 call sites (even if short). A full Expected / Got / Suggestion block always exceeds 3 lines and must be a helper — inline is only appropriate for ≤3-line messages at a single call site. Place the helper in a section at the bottom of the source file; promote to a shared only when ≥2 different source files share the helper. Use , positional args for required facts, and -defaulted kwargs for optional context such as loop indices. Render each optional section only when its kwarg is non-.

---

Canonical before/after examples

Length rule applies to all examples below. Each example shows the canonical message format (Expected / Got / Suggestion sections, interpolation, etc.). When the message body exceeds 3 lines — which any structured block with Expected / Got / Suggestion sections does — the throw must go in a _throw_<what>(...) helper per Step 2.5, not inline. The first example below models this explicitly. Subsequent examples show the message body format; apply the same helper extraction whenever the resulting message exceeds 3 lines.

Replace a vague error(string(...))

The after-message has 10 lines (well above the 3-line threshold), so it goes into a _throw_ helper — extract unconditionally at this length even though there is only one call site.

# Before — in a data-processor constructor, a vague dimension-reduction guard
if retain_var <= 0.0 || retain_var > 1.0
    error(string("retain_var=", retain_var, " is invalid."))
end

# After — helper in the ## Error helpers section at the bottom of the file
@noinline function _throw_invalid_retain_var(retain_var)
    throw(ArgumentError("""
Invalid `retain_var` for dimension reduction.

Expected:
    0 < retain_var ≤ 1.0

Got:
    retain_var = $retain_var

Suggestion:
    `retain_var` is the fraction of explained variance to retain after SVD
    truncation. Pass a value in (0, 1] — for example, `retain_var = 0.95`
    to keep 95% of variance.
"""))
end

# Call site collapses to a single guard line:
(0.0 < retain_var ≤ 1.0) || _throw_invalid_retain_var(retain_var)

Replace a bare @assert on an API boundary

# Before
@assert(haskey(param_info, "constraint"))

# After
haskey(param_info, "constraint") || throw(ArgumentError("""
Parameter info dict is missing the required "constraint" key.

Got keys:
    $(collect(keys(param_info)))

Suggestion:
    Ensure the TOML entry for this parameter includes a `constraint = ...` field.
"""))

Replace a single-line string-value error (use repr)

# Before
throw(ArgumentError("sigma_points type is not recognized. Select from \"symmetric\" or \"simplex\". "))

# After
throw(ArgumentError("""
Unrecognized sigma_points type.

Expected:
    "symmetric" or "simplex"

Got:
    sigma_points = $(repr(sigma_points))
"""))

Using repr(sigma_points) rather than $(sigma_points) keeps the string quotes visible in the output, making it unambiguous that the user passed a String value (and making copy-paste errors easy to spot).

Replace a dimension-mismatch @assert

# Before
@assert size(x, 2) == length(mean_weights)

# After
size(x, 2) == length(mean_weights) || throw(DimensionMismatch("""
Ensemble size does not match the number of quadrature weights.

Expected:
    size(x, 2) == length(mean_weights)

Got:
    size(x, 2) = $(size(x, 2))
    length(mean_weights) = $(length(mean_weights))
"""))

Preserve the original exception when catching and re-throwing

# Before — PosDefException or SingularException silently discarded
try
    cov_chol = cholesky(cov_u)
catch e
    error("Covariance matrix factorization failed.")
end

# After — root cause preserved, matrix state shown
try
    cov_chol = cholesky(cov_u)
catch e
    throw(ArgumentError("""
Covariance matrix factorization failed during empirical Gaussian sampling.

Got:
    size(cov_u)    = $(size(cov_u))
    isposdef(cov_u) = $(isposdef(cov_u))

Caused by: $(sprint(showerror, e))

Suggestion:
    The ensemble may have collapsed. Pass a non-zero `inflation` keyword
    argument to regularise the sample covariance.
"""))
end

sprint(showerror, e) formats as "LinearAlgebra.PosDefException: matrix is not Hermitian; Cholesky factorization failed." — far more informative than string(e). Only suppress e when you are intentionally providing a higher-level fallback (e.g. falling back to pinv) and still emit it at @debug level.

Rewrite @warn string(...) to use interpolation

# Before
@warn string("Emulator output covariance has negative eigenvalues.", "\n Clamping to zero.")

# After
@warn "Emulator output covariance has negative eigenvalues — clamping to zero before sampling."

# Before (with values)
@warn string("SVD truncation removed ", n_removed, " dimensions (retain_var=", retain_var, ").", "\nCheck that retain_var is not too aggressive.")

# After
@warn "SVD truncation removed $n_removed dimension$(n_removed == 1 ? "" : "s") (retain_var=$retain_var). Reduce retain_var if emulator accuracy suffers."

Add loop context to an error thrown inside an iteration loop

# Before — user sees "Cholesky factorization failed" with no idea which output dim
for j in 1:n_out
    try
        cov_chol = cholesky(C_j)
    catch e
        error("Cholesky factorization failed")
    end
end

# After — guard before cholesky, expose output dimension index and diagnostic state
for j in 1:n_out
    isposdef(C_j) || throw(ArgumentError("""
Emulator output covariance is not positive definite for output dimension $j.

Expected:
    A positive-definite covariance matrix for every output dimension.

Got:
    output dimension = $j / $n_out
    size(C_j)        = $(size(C_j))
    minimum eigval   = $(minimum(eigvals(Symmetric(C_j))))

Suggestion:
    Increase `alg_reg_noise` in the GaussianProcess constructor to regularise
    the covariance, or check that training data for output $j is not degenerate.
"""))
    cov_chol = cholesky(C_j)
end

Key points:

• Move the guard before the failing call so the message fires with the full loop state still in scope. Catching a PosDefException after the fact and re-throwing loses the loop index and the matrix state.
• Report the loop variable (j, i, iter) and its upper bound so the user knows whether the failure is early (dimension 1/10, likely degenerate training data) or late (dimension 9/10, likely numerical accumulation).
• Include one diagnostic scalar — the minimum eigenvalue, the norm of the update step, the condition number — rather than dumping the full matrix.

When this same loop-context error needs to be thrown at multiple sites, the loop variables (i, N_iter) naturally become optional kwargs on a _throw_<what> helper. The call site stays a single line and the loop-awareness travels with the helper everywhere it is used — see the Helper with optional loop context example below.

Extract a duplicated error into a helper

encode_data and decode_data in src/Emulator.jl each validate the same precondition: that the input array has the right number of dimensions. Before extraction, nearly identical 10-line blocks appear at both call sites:

# Before — same shape check in both encode_data and decode_data

# in encode_data:
if !(x isa AbstractMatrix)
    throw(ArgumentError("""
encode_data: input must be a matrix.

Expected:
    An AbstractMatrix with one column per sample.

Got:
    typeof(x) = $(typeof(x))
    ndims(x)  = $(ndims(x))

Suggestion:
    Reshape your input to a matrix — use `reshape(x, :, 1)` for a single sample.
"""))
end

# in decode_data: byte-for-byte identical except the summary reads "decode_data".

After extraction, both functions call a single helper defined once in a ## Error helpers section at the bottom of the file:

# After — helper at the bottom of src/Emulator.jl

## Error helpers

@noinline function _throw_not_matrix(x; where::Symbol)
    throw(ArgumentError("""
$where: input must be a matrix.

Expected:
    An AbstractMatrix with one column per sample.

Got:
    typeof(x) = $(typeof(x))
    ndims(x)  = $(ndims(x))

Suggestion:
    Reshape your input to a matrix — use `reshape(x, :, 1)` for a single sample.
"""))
end

# Both call sites now collapse to a single readable guard line:
function encode_data(encoder_schedule, x)
    x isa AbstractMatrix || _throw_not_matrix(x; where = :encode_data)
    # ... algorithm body visible immediately ...
end

function decode_data(encoder_schedule, x)
    x isa AbstractMatrix || _throw_not_matrix(x; where = :decode_data)
    # ... algorithm body visible immediately ...
end

Key points:

• The where::Symbol kwarg embeds the calling function name in the message so diagnostics stay specific even though the body is shared. Pass a Symbol literal (where = :my_func) — symbols are cheap and render cleanly with $where.
• Both functions now have one guard line each instead of a 10-line block; the algorithm body is immediately visible.
• @noinline keeps the error path out of the hot encode/decode path.
• The helper lives at the bottom of the same file — one jump away, no new file.

Helper with optional loop context

The for proc in encoder_schedule loop in src/Utilities.jl applies each data processor in turn but currently reports no position if one fails — the user sees "encode failed" with no idea which processor in the pipeline triggered the error. Extracting into a helper adds the index and makes the same helper reusable wherever that validation appears:

# Before — inline block, no loop index in the message
for proc in encoder_schedule
    if !applicable(encode_data, proc, x)
        throw(ArgumentError("""
Data processor does not support encode_data.

Expected:
    All processors in encoder_schedule to implement encode_data.

Got:
    typeof(proc) = $(typeof(proc))

Suggestion:
    Ensure every processor in the encoder_schedule implements encode_data.
"""))
    end
end

# After — helper with optional loop context at the bottom of the file

@noinline function _throw_proc_missing_encode(proc; index = nothing, total = nothing)
    loop_ctx = isnothing(index) ? "" : """

Loop context:
    processor index = $index (of $total)"""
    throw(ArgumentError("""
Data processor does not implement encode_data.$loop_ctx

Expected:
    Every element of encoder_schedule to implement encode_data(proc, x).

Got:
    typeof(proc) = $(typeof(proc))

Suggestion:
    Check that each processor in your encoder_schedule is a recognised data
    processor type (e.g. Decorrelator, ElementwiseScaler, CanonicalCorrelation).
"""))
end

# Call site — loop now reports position:
for (i, proc) in enumerate(encoder_schedule)
    applicable(encode_data, proc, x) ||
        _throw_proc_missing_encode(proc; index = i, total = length(encoder_schedule))
end

# The same helper works outside a loop — omit the kwargs and the Loop context
# section is silently suppressed:
applicable(encode_data, proc, x) || _throw_proc_missing_encode(proc)

Key points:

• index and total default to nothing; the Loop context: section is rendered only when they are provided. No special-casing at any call site.
• Switching for proc in ... to for (i, proc) in enumerate(...) is the only loop-side change needed to expose the index.
• The user now knows which processor failed, not just that one of them did.
• The same helper can be called from a non-loop site (e.g. single-processor validation) with zero kwargs and produces a clean message without a Loop context section.

---

Non-goals

• Do not rewrite every low-level exception in the package. Focus on user-facing API boundaries and sites explicitly identified.
• Do not suppress Julia stack traces. The goal is clearer diagnostics, not silenced errors.
• Do not add verbosity for its own sake. A short, clear message beats a long, generic one.
• Do not expose internal linear algebra variable names or dispatch details when domain-level terminology exists.
• Do not extract truly short errors (≤3 lines) at a single call site — the inline form is easier to grep and keeps cause and message co-located. A single summary line, or a summary plus one Got line, is the ceiling for inline.