Context and Metadata

masterror replaces string-glued context (format!("failed to X: {e}")) with three structured mechanisms: the Context builder, typed Metadata fields, and redaction policies enforced at the transport boundary.

ResultExt: promoting foreign errors

ResultExt is implemented for every Result<T, E> where E: Error + Send + Sync + 'static and offers two methods:

.context(msg) — anyhow-style

Wraps the error with a message; the original error becomes the source:

use masterror::ResultExt;

fn read_config() -> Result<String, std::io::Error> {
    Err(std::io::Error::from(std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound))
}

let err = read_config().context("Failed to read config file").unwrap_err();
assert!(err.source_ref().is_some());

If the underlying error is already a masterror::Error, .context() preserves its classification: kind, code, metadata, edit policy, retry advice and details are carried over, only the message is replaced and the original error is kept as the source.

.ctx(|| Context) — full control

use masterror::{AppErrorKind, Context, ResultExt, field};

fn validate() -> Result<(), std::io::Error> {
    Err(std::io::Error::other("boom"))
}

let err = validate()
    .ctx(|| {
        Context::new(AppErrorKind::Validation)
            .with(field::str("phase", "validate"))
            .redact(true)
            .track_caller()
    })
    .unwrap_err();

assert_eq!(err.kind, AppErrorKind::Validation);
assert!(err.metadata().get("phase").is_some());

The closure is only evaluated on the error path.

The Context builder

Metadata fields

Metadata is a sorted, inline-allocated map of typed fields (0–4 fields stay on the stack). Build fields with the masterror::field module:

Attach fields when constructing errors or through Context:

use core::time::Duration;
use masterror::{AppError, FieldValue, field};

let err = AppError::service("downstream degraded")
    .with_field(field::str("request_id", "abc123"))
    .with_field(field::duration("elapsed", Duration::from_millis(1500)))
    .with_field(field::u64("attempt", 2));

assert_eq!(err.metadata().len(), 3);
assert_eq!(err.metadata().get("attempt"), Some(&FieldValue::U64(2)));

for (name, value) in err.metadata().iter() {
    println!("{name}={value}");
}

with_fields(iter) extends from an iterator, with_metadata(meta) replaces the container, and Metadata::insert returns the previous value when a key is overwritten.

Redaction policies

Message policy: MessageEditPolicy

Preserve (default) keeps the public message; Redact tells transports to strip it. Set it with .redactable() on an error, .redact(true) on a Context, or redact(message) in #[masterror(...)]:

use masterror::{AppError, MessageEditPolicy, ProblemJson};

let err = AppError::internal("db-3 credentials rejected").redactable();
assert_eq!(err.edit_policy, MessageEditPolicy::Redact);

let problem = ProblemJson::from_app_error(err);
assert!(problem.detail.is_none());

Field policy: FieldRedaction

Each field carries its own policy applied when metadata is serialized into ProblemJson:

use masterror::{AppError, FieldRedaction, field};

let err = AppError::internal("payment failed")
    .with_field(field::str("card_number", "4111111111111111"))
    .redact_field("card_number", FieldRedaction::Last4);

Common secret-like names get a safe default automatically when the field is created: names containing password, secret, authorization, cookie, session, jwt, bearer, otp, pin default to Redact; token/key-like names (api_token, refresh_token, key, apikey) default to Hash; card/account segments combined with a number-like segment (card_number, iban_no, account_id) default to Last4. Detection is case-insensitive. Explicit redact_field/with_redaction always wins.

Error chains

Errors keep their full causal chain. chain() iterates from the error itself down to the root cause; root_cause() jumps straight to the deepest error:

use masterror::AppError;

let io_err = std::io::Error::other("disk offline");
let app_err = AppError::internal("db down").with_context(io_err);

let chain: Vec<_> = app_err.chain().collect();
assert_eq!(chain.len(), 2);
assert_eq!(app_err.root_cause().to_string(), "disk offline");

with_context(...) is the preferred way to attach an upstream error: it accepts owned errors or shared Arc<dyn Error + Send + Sync> values and reuses existing allocations. with_source(...) / with_source_arc(...) are the lower-level equivalents.

Downcasting

Inspect the attached source with is and downcast_ref/downcast_mut:

use masterror::AppError;

let io_err = std::io::Error::other("disk offline");
let err = AppError::internal("boom").with_context(io_err);

assert!(err.is::<std::io::Error>());

if let Some(io) = err.downcast_ref::<std::io::Error>() {
    assert_eq!(io.to_string(), "disk offline");
}

• is::<E>() — true when the immediate source is of type E (does not walk the whole chain).
• downcast_ref::<E>() — borrow the source as E.
• downcast::<E>() / downcast_mut::<E>() — currently stubs (downcast always returns Err(self), downcast_mut always returns None), so prefer downcast_ref.

For deeper matches, walk chain() and use source.is::<E>() / source.downcast_ref::<E>() on each element.

Backtraces

With the backtrace feature, err.backtrace() returns a lazily captured std::backtrace::Backtrace honouring RUST_BACKTRACE, and with_backtrace(bt) attaches an explicit capture. Backtraces are shared via Arc when errors are re-wrapped, so .context() chains do not re-capture.

See also: Getting Started · Error Kinds and Codes · Derive Macros · Observability · Best Practices