# failure.internal

Our fault: a bug, a failed database call. The caller gets a generic message; the details go to the log

Profile: [Errors](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/intents/errors.md) · Raised with: [`fail()`](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/profiles/errors.md) · Status: `500` · Message: generic · Writes: [`incident.failed`](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/intents/incident/failed.md)

## Example

```ts
return fail('failure.internal', undefined, { cause: error });
```

The caller gets

```bash
HTTP 500

{
  "ok": false,
  "error": "Something went wrong. Try again.",
  "code": "failure.internal"
}
```

And it writes incident.failed

```ts
{
  "intent": "incident.failed",
  "level": "error",
  "alert": true,
  "message": "Something went wrong. Try again.",
  "data": {
    "intent": "failure.internal",
    "cause": {
      "name": "PostgresError",
      "message": "connection terminated unexpectedly",
      "stack": "PostgresError: connection terminated…"
    }
  },
  "time": "2026-10-09T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

## Choosing between neighbours

Find the row that describes your case, and use the intent on the right.

| If it is for… | Use |
|---|---|
| Our fault: a bug, a failed database call. The caller gets a generic message; the details go to the log | `failure.internal` (this page) |
| Anything the caller did wrong | [`request.invalid`](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/intents/request/invalid.md) |

## Connections

Declared in the registry, both directions. Where an intent is used in your own code is something check and the gallery see; this site has no app code.

- Built from: [`status.internal`](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/intents/errors.md#status-internal)
- Writes: [`incident.failed`](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/intents/incident/failed.md)

## For registry authors

**Starter intents.** These are the intents `prongs add errors` puts in your registry, raised with [`fail()`](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/profiles/errors.md). Change the messages to suit your app, and the statuses through the [`status.*`](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/intents/errors.md#status) intents they are built from.

The entry `prongs add errors` writes into your registry. Change the message here, or the status through its [`status.*`](https://www.prongs.dev/docs/intents/errors.md#status) ref.

```ts
'failure.internal': {
  kind: 'semantic',
  description: 'Our fault: a bug, a failed database call. The caller gets a generic message; the details go to the log',
  refs: ['status.internal'],
  keywords: ['crash', 'exception', 'database', 'bug'],
  binding: {
    publicMessage: 'Something went wrong. Try again.',
    logs: 'incident.failed',
  },
  notFor: [
    { context: 'anything the caller did wrong', instead: 'request.invalid' },
  ],
},
```