---
type: "article"
title: "Your error messages are an API too"
summary: "Developers read your 400s more carefully than your docs. Design them like it."
newsletter: "API Bytes"
newsletter_handle: "api-bytes"
newsletter_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/api-bytes"
author: "Fran Méndez (@fmvilas)"
published: "2026-08-21T08:30:00.000Z"
canonical_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/api-bytes/a/errors-are-an-api"
markdown_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/api-bytes/a/errors-are-an-api.md"
chat_url: "https://staging.in.usecommune.com/n/api-bytes/a/errors-are-an-api/chat"
body_source: "native"
likes: 8
replies: 0
body_words: 91
---

# Your error messages are an API too

Nobody reads your quickstart when things work. Everybody reads your error body when things break. That's your real documentation.

## A good error tells you three things

- What went wrong, in one human sentence.
- Which field or input caused it.
- What to do next, ideally with a link.

> A 400 that just says 'Bad Request' is a locked door with no sign. A 400 with a field path and a hint is a door with a handle.

Machine-readable code, human-readable message, stable shape. That's the whole trick.

***

## Discussion

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