Error Message Poet is a free prompt. Paste a harsh error. Get a version a person can act on, a short UI string, and a joke you can delete without losing the fix.
It is not always the right tool. Here is when something else wins, and when it does not.
By hand
Your design system's error guidelines
Pick it if
Your team has a voice guide and a writer.
Pick Error Message Poet if
You need a fixed version now and want the action stated first.
Plain chatbot
Asking ChatGPT to make the error friendlier
Pick it if
You just want a softer tone.
Pick Error Message Poet if
You want the next step for the user, a short UI string, and no internal ids leaked into the joke.
0:00The callPOST /api/refunds returned 401 bad signature twice. The body says the prefix should be sha256=. They may have signed with the example placeholder.
0:08What brokeThe server rejected the signature. The status is not a transient outage. The prefix note is a hint about the header format.
0:16The changeSign the raw body with the real secret, prefix the header with sha256=, and keep the same idempotency key so a later success does not double-apply.
0:24RetryDo not retry the same bytes. Retry once after the header changes. Forging a signature for someone else's API is out of scope.
No daily video for this drop yet. The in and out lines above are the preview.
0:00The dumpledger refund needs --order, optional --dry-run. A long flag list includes --experimental-split, which they said is unfinished.
0:08Three examplesA dry run, a real refund with --order, and a json version. Each uses the binary name ledger.
0:16Flags that matter--order, --dry-run, --json. Timeout stays in the dictionary because it has a default, not in the first example.
0:24Hidden--experimental-split is listed under do-not-feature. No invented subcommand.
No daily video for this drop yet. The in and out lines above are the preview.
Questions
What are the alternatives to Error Message Poet?
Your design system's error guidelines (by hand); Asking ChatGPT to make the error friendlier (plain chatbot). On One Agent a Day, API Error Explainer, CLI Help Rewriter do a similar job.
When is your design system's error guidelines better than Error Message Poet?
Your design system's error guidelines is the better pick when your team has a voice guide and a writer. Error Message Poet is the better pick when you need a fixed version now and want the action stated first.
When is asking ChatGPT to make the error friendlier better than Error Message Poet?
Asking ChatGPT to make the error friendlier is the better pick when you just want a softer tone. Error Message Poet is the better pick when you want the next step for the user, a short UI string, and no internal ids leaked into the joke.
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