Error messages
Updated on 3 November 2026.
Give callers a clear explanation and a help link when a gateway or provider request fails. Error Messages changes the message and help link, while preserving the HTTP status and error code.
This is a Policy Engine control. There is no equivalent classic app setting.
Add an error message
- Open Govern > Policy Engine > LLM Gateway > Controls > Error Messages.
- Start from a recipe, such as Explain provider problems, Explain blocked requests, or Keep the error, add our help link. Use the section's add menu for another setup.
- Choose Applies to, the errors to match, and the message or help link to return. A link is required for the help-link-only recipe.
- Check Reads as, then Save to draft.
- Review the draft and choose Review & publish to apply the changes.
Other recipes cover prompts that are too long, credential or model errors, and provider safety refusals. Use wording that tells a caller what they can do next; keep credentials and internal system details out of messages and links.
Which message wins
Message lists are evaluated by their stored priority, highest first. Every list has a unique priority. Within a list, messages keep their stored order and the first match wins. If no message matches, the caller receives the original error.
Errors this control does not replace
- Errors before the gateway identifies the app, such as a wrong API key.
- Limit refusals that use a Limit response. A budget limit message takes precedence for those refusals; configure it under Budgets & Usage Limits.
Replacing a message does not retry a request, change policy enforcement, or turn a failed call into a successful one.