Prettify error messages and stacks.

Features

• 🖍️ Pretty colors, icons and header
• 💣 Error class-specific and custom handling
• ⛑️ Normalize invalid errors
• 🔕 Log verbosity: stack, nested errors, properties
• 💥 Exception-safe

Screenshot

Example

General

import beautifulError from 'beautiful-error'

try {
  // ...
} catch (error) {
  const message = beautifulError(error)
  console.error(message)
}

Error class-specific

const message = beautifulError(error, {
  InputError: { icon: 'warning', stack: false },
  DatabaseError: { icon: 'info', stack: false },
  default: { icon: 'cross' },
})

Install

npm install beautiful-error

This package works in Node.js >=18.18.0.

This is an ES module. It must be loaded using an import or import() statement, not require(). If TypeScript is used, it must be configured to output ES modules, not CommonJS.

API

beautifulError(error, options?)

error any
options Options?
Return value: string

Returns error as a prettified string.

This never throws. Invalid errors are silently normalized.

Options

📕 stack

Type: boolean
Default: true

Whether to show the error's stack trace.

🪏 cause

Type: boolean
Default: true

Whether to show nested errors, i.e. error.cause and error.errors.

📢 props

Type: boolean
Default: true

Whether to show the error's additional properties.

🖍️ colors

Type: boolean
Default: true in terminals, false otherwise

Whether to colorize the error's message, stack trace and additional properties.

Quoted strings in the error's message are printed in bold (for "..." and '...') and in italic (for `...`).

❌ icon

Type: string
Default: 'cross'

Icon prepended to the error's name. The available values are listed here. Can be disabled by passing an empty string.

💄 header

Type: string
Default: 'red bold'

Color/style of the error's icon and name. The available values are listed here. Several styles can be specified by using spaces. Can be disabled by passing an empty string.

💣 classes

Type: object
Default: {}

Specify different options per error class. The object:

• Keys are either the error.name, or "default" (used if no error.name matches)
• Values are options objects

🪛 custom

Type: string | symbol
Default: beautiful

Name of a method to map the output. That method must take the output as a string argument, transform it then return it.

class ExampleError extends Error {
  beautiful(output) {
    return output.replaceAll('secret', '***')
  }
}

const error = new ExampleError('Unknown value: secret')
const message = beautifulError(error) // 'Unknown value: ***'

Related projects

• modern-errors: Handle errors in a simple, stable, consistent way
• modern-errors-beautiful: Prettify errors messages and stacks
• modern-errors-cli: Handle errors in CLI modules
• error-custom-class: Create one error class
• error-class-utils: Utilities to properly create error classes
• error-serializer: Convert errors to/from plain objects
• normalize-exception: Normalize exceptions/errors
• is-error-instance: Check if a value is an Error instance
• merge-error-cause: Merge an error with its cause
• set-error-class: Properly update an error's class
• set-error-message: Properly update an error's message
• wrap-error-message: Properly wrap an error's message
• set-error-props: Properly update an error's properties
• set-error-stack: Properly update an error's stack
• error-cause-polyfill: Polyfill error.cause
• handle-cli-error: 💣 Error handler for CLI applications 💥
• log-process-errors: Show some ❤ to Node.js process errors
• error-http-response: Create HTTP error responses
• winston-error-format: Log errors with Winston

Credits

The logo background was created by dgim-studio.

Support

For any question, don't hesitate to submit an issue on GitHub.

Everyone is welcome regardless of personal background. We enforce a Code of conduct in order to promote a positive and inclusive environment.

Contributing

This project was made with ❤️. The simplest way to give back is by starring and sharing it online.

If the documentation is unclear or has a typo, please click on the page's Edit button (pencil icon) and suggest a correction.

If you would like to help us fix a bug or add a new feature, please check our guidelines. Pull requests are welcome!