What is Error Handling?
The practice of anticipating, catching, and gracefully managing errors in your application so users see helpful messages instead of crashes or blank screens.
In plain English
Like a pilot trained for emergencies. When something goes wrong, they don't panic or freeze — they follow a procedure, communicate with passengers, and land safely. Good error handling means your app deals with problems gracefully instead of crashing.
What happens without it
A database query fails: your entire page shows a white screen of death. An API is down: the user clicks a button and nothing happens — no feedback, no error message. A file upload exceeds the limit: the app crashes with a raw error message that means nothing to the user. These are the experiences your users have when error handling is missing.
The three-part approach
1. Catch: wrap every external operation (API calls, database queries, file operations) in try/catch blocks. 2. Log: record the full error details server-side for debugging (include the stack trace, request details, and user context). 3. Respond: show the user a helpful message ('Something went wrong, please try again' or 'Unable to save, check your connection').
In React apps
Use Error Boundaries to catch rendering errors and show fallback UI instead of blank screens. Add try/catch to async operations in event handlers and server actions. Show loading states during async operations and error states when they fail. In Next.js, create error.tsx files at route segments to handle errors per page.
Frequently asked questions
Should I show users technical error details?
Never in production. Technical details (stack traces, database errors, internal paths) help attackers. Show users a friendly, actionable message ('Something went wrong. Please try again or contact support.'). Log the full technical details server-side where your team can review them.
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