ERROR_HANDLING.md

Error Handling Specification

Comprehensive error handling strategy for Rise - making failures informative, recoverable, and user-friendly.

Philosophy

Errors are inevitable. Our response defines the user experience.

Rise's error handling philosophy:

1. Fail Gracefully: Never crash the entire application
2. Be Informative: Tell users what happened and why
3. Enable Recovery: Provide clear paths to fix issues
4. Learn and Improve: Log errors to improve the product
5. Respect Privacy: Never expose sensitive data in errors

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Error Classification System

Severity Levels

enum ErrorSeverity {
  DEBUG = 0,      // Informational, auto-logged
  INFO = 1,       // Notable events, user may want to know
  WARNING = 2,    // Potential issues, app continues
  ERROR = 3,      // Failures that need user attention
  CRITICAL = 4,   // System failures, may prevent core functionality
  FATAL = 5,      // Unrecoverable, requires restart
}

Error Categories

enum ErrorCategory {
  VALIDATION = 'validation',           // Input validation failures
  SECURITY = 'security',               // Security violations
  PERMISSION = 'permission',           // Access denied
  NETWORK = 'network',                 // API/network failures
  FILE_SYSTEM = 'filesystem',          // File read/write errors
  CODE_GENERATION = 'codegen',         // Code generation failures
  PARSE = 'parse',                     // Code parsing errors
  RUNTIME = 'runtime',                 // Expression execution errors
  PLUGIN = 'plugin',                   // Plugin failures
  DATABASE = 'database',               // Database errors
  UNKNOWN = 'unknown',                 // Unexpected errors
}

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Base Error Class

class RiseError extends Error {
  constructor(
    message: string,
    public readonly category: ErrorCategory,
    public readonly severity: ErrorSeverity,
    public readonly context?: ErrorContext,
    public readonly cause?: Error,
  ) {
    super(message);
    this.name = this.constructor.name;
    
    if (Error.captureStackTrace) {
      Error.captureStackTrace(this, this.constructor);
    }
  }

  toUserMessage(): string {
    return ErrorMessageFormatter.format(this);
  }

  toJSON(): ErrorJSON {
    return {
      name: this.name,
      message: this.message,
      category: this.category,
      severity: this.severity,
      context: this.context,
      stack: this.stack,
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    };
  }

  isRecoverable(): boolean {
    return this.severity < ErrorSeverity.CRITICAL;
  }
}

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See full specification at: View Complete Document

Key Sections:

• Error classification and severity levels
• Specialized error classes (ValidationError, SecurityError, etc.)
• Error handling patterns (try-catch, error boundaries, async)
• User-facing error messages and UI components
• Recovery strategies (retry, fallback, graceful degradation)
• Error logging and tracking system
• Testing error handling
• Production monitoring

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Last Updated: October 25, 2025
Status: ✅ Complete - Ready for Implementation
Review Required: Senior Developer & UX Designer