errors

errors package (CLI)

Minimal helpers for CLI-friendly error handling:

• Silent: never printed
• Priority + Must Show: clean user messages with full chain preserved for verbose
• One-liner printing in main

Quick use

// main.go
if pkgerrors.ShouldPrint(err) {
    // User-facing (short): highest priority + must-show
    printer.Errorln(pkgerrors.FormatError(err))
}

Marking errors where they happen

// 1) Silent: do not show this error to user
if userCanceled {
    return pkgerrors.NewSilentf("user canceled")
}

// 2) Priority: user-friendly message, preserved chain
if err := connectDB(); err != nil {
    return pkgerrors.SetPriority("Failed to connect to database", err, pkgerrors.PriorityHigh)
}

// 3) Must show: extra context that must be displayed
if err := api.CheckStatus(); err != nil {
    return pkgerrors.SetMustShow("service unavailable", err)
}

What to call (90% use cases)

// Build final user-facing message from the error chain

• pkgerrors.FormatError(err error) string

// Silence errors from printing

• pkgerrors.NewSilent(err error) error
• pkgerrors.NewSilentf(format string, args ...any) error

// Check if a error is silenced

• pkgerrors.ShouldPrint(err error) bool

// Priority tagging (highest wins)

• pkgerrors.SetPriority(msg string, err error, p int) error
• pkgerrors.SetPriorityf(format string, err error, p int, args ...any) error
• pkgerrors.NewPriority(err error, p int) error // tag existing err as priority
• pkgerrors.NewPriorityf(p int, format string, args ...any) error // originate new

// Must-show tagging (always appended after highest priority)

• pkgerrors.SetMustShow(msg string, err error) error
• pkgerrors.SetMustShowf(format string, err error, p ...any) error
• pkgerrors.NewMustShow(err error) error // tag existing err as must-show
• pkgerrors.NewMustShowf(format string, args ...any) error // originate new

Priority levels:

const (
    PriorityLow      = 1
    PriorityMedium   = 50
    PriorityHigh     = 100
    PriorityCritical = 200
)

Notes

• ShouldPrint(err) checks the whole chain: if any link is silent, nothing is printed.
• FormatError(err) walks the chain, picks the highest priority short message, and appends any must-show short messages in order (no duplicates). If no priority exists, it falls back to err.Error() (full chain top-level string).