diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/optimization-20260507-101040.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/optimization-20260507-101040.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4aceb9b2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/optimization-20260507-101040.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+kind: optimization
+body: Shows explicit API error message
+time: 2026-05-07T10:10:40.73557+03:00
+custom:
+ Author: v-alexmoraru
+ AuthorLink: https://github.com/v-alexmoraru
diff --git a/src/fabric_cli/core/fab_exceptions.py b/src/fabric_cli/core/fab_exceptions.py
index b3d6cd5e4..1bd1d3cd0 100644
--- a/src/fabric_cli/core/fab_exceptions.py
+++ b/src/fabric_cli/core/fab_exceptions.py
@@ -8,13 +8,17 @@
# Default error constants - avoids circular imports
DEFAULT_ERROR_MESSAGE = "An error occurred while processing the operation"
DEFAULT_ERROR_CODE = "UnknownError"
+NOT_SET = object()
class FabricCLIError(Exception):
- def __init__(self, message=None, status_code=None):
- # Use default values if not provided
+ def __init__(self, message=None, status_code=NOT_SET):
+ # message: values like (None, "") fall back to the default.
+ # status_code: default is applied only when omitted entirely;
+ # an explicit None is preserved (e.g. fallback paths that have no code).
message = message or DEFAULT_ERROR_MESSAGE
- status_code = status_code or DEFAULT_ERROR_CODE
+ if status_code is NOT_SET:
+ status_code = DEFAULT_ERROR_CODE
super().__init__(message)
self.message = message.rstrip(".")
@@ -78,12 +82,23 @@ def __init__(self, response_text):
related_resource (dict): Details about the main related resource, if available.
request_id (str): The ID of the request associated with the error.
"""
- response = self._parse_json_response(response_text)
-
- message = response.get("message")
- error_code = response.get("errorCode")
- self.more_details: list[dict] = response.get("moreDetails", [])
- self.request_id = response.get("requestId")
+ try:
+ response = json.loads(response_text)
+ if not isinstance(response, dict):
+ raise ValueError("Unexpected JSON shape")
+ message = (
+ response.get("message")
+ if response.get("message") is not None
+ else response_text
+ )
+ error_code = response.get("errorCode")
+ self.more_details: list[dict] = response.get("moreDetails", [])
+ self.request_id = response.get("requestId")
+ except (json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError, ValueError):
+ message = response_text
+ error_code = None
+ self.more_details = []
+ self.request_id = None
super().__init__(message, error_code)
@@ -105,7 +120,10 @@ def formatted_message(self, verbose=False):
else f"{base_message}\n{detailed_message}"
)
- return f"{final_message}\n∟ Request Id: {self.request_id}"
+ if self.request_id:
+ final_message += f"\n∟ Request Id: {self.request_id}