Verbose Error Messages Anti Pattern
This skill identifies and mitigates overly verbose error messages, improving developer clarity and debugging efficiency.
Install on your platform
We auto-selected Claude Code based on this skill’s supported platforms.
Run in terminal (recommended)
claude mcp add verbose-error-messages-anti-pattern npx -- -y @trustedskills/verbose-error-messages-anti-pattern
Or manually add to ~/.claude/settings.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"verbose-error-messages-anti-pattern": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@trustedskills/verbose-error-messages-anti-pattern"
]
}
}
}Requires Claude Code (claude CLI). Run claude --version to verify your install.
About This Skill
What it does
This skill helps AI agents avoid the "verbose error messages" anti-pattern. It identifies instances where error messages are overly long, complex, or contain unnecessary technical details that confuse users. The agent can then rewrite these messages to be more concise, user-friendly, and actionable for non-technical individuals.
When to use it
- Debugging User Issues: When a user reports an issue and the provided error message is difficult to understand.
- Improving Application Usability: During application development or maintenance to proactively identify and fix verbose error messages.
- Creating Documentation: When generating documentation for users, ensuring that error scenarios are explained clearly and simply.
- Training AI Agents: To teach new agents how to communicate errors effectively without overwhelming the user with technical jargon.
Key capabilities
- Identifies verbose error messages.
- Rewrites error messages for clarity.
- Focuses on actionable information for users.
- Removes unnecessary technical details.
Example prompts
- "Rewrite this error message to be more user-friendly: 'Error code 0x80070005, Access is denied.'"
- "Can you simplify the following error and suggest a solution? 'The server encountered an internal error (500) while processing your request. Please contact support with the following log ID: XYZ123.'"
- "I need to explain this error to a non-technical user. Can you rephrase it?: 'NullPointerException at com.example.MyClass.myMethod(MyClass.java:25)'"
Tips & gotchas
The skill's effectiveness relies on providing the full, original error message as input. It is designed for text-based error messages and may not be suitable for graphical or complex error displays.
Tags
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Security Audits
| Gen Agent Trust Hub | Pass |
| Socket | Pass |
| Snyk | Pass |
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Passed automated security scans.