Pretty HTTP Errors for Node

Ever wanted to build an API with Node and constantly had to either use blocks to return errors so you could attach a status code, or you just use one type of status code for all errors? Now you can throw your errors in just one line.

npm install node-http-error

Example

var HTTPError = require('node-http-error');
var app = require('express')();

app.get('/error', function(req, req, next) {
  return next(new HTTPError(500, 'Error by design.'));
});

// Error handler
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
  res.status(err.status); // or use err.statusCode instead
  res.send(err.message);
});

app.listen(2000);

$ curl -i http://localhost:2000/error

HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
X-Powered-By: Express
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 51
ETag: W/"33-2476597395"
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 17:51:07 GMT
Connection: keep-alive

Error by design.

Features

• Treat it just like Error. HTTPError's are throwable, have full stacktrace, and even print out their status code when they're thrown.
• Don't worry about accidentally forgetting the new operator, HTTPError works without it.
• Give it just the HTTP status code you want to return, and the error message is automatically generated.
• Assign extra properties to the error.

Usage

HTTPError(status, message, properties)

Creates an error with the given status, message and properties. For example

   new HTTPError(404, 'Not found!', { path: '/something-missing' })

HTTPError(status, message)

Creates an error message with the given status and message.

HTTPError(message)

Creates an error message with the message and 500 as the status code (Internal Server Error).

HTTPError(status)

Creates an error message with the given status. The error message is looked up from the default Node HTTP module. For example, HTTPError(404) is equivalent to HTTPError(404, 'Not Found').

The Node HTTP module is not loaded unless needed to lookup the error message.