data-flow

A structured API error handling pipeline uses a four-stage process: Define, Unpack, Factory, and Consume. It enforces typed errors and discriminated responses to ensure explicit handling of success, validation, and network failures across frontend and backend layers.

You structure failing API responses by applying a Define → Unpack → Factory → Consume pipeline. This pattern uses a gateway to abstract transport, explicit error types for known variants, and a centralized catch-all Unpack for unknown failures.

Yes, the four-stage pipeline is reusable across both REST and GraphQL endpoints. It provides a centralized error model and gateway abstraction that standardizes data flow and error handling regardless of the underlying transport protocol.

The best way to handle unknown API error variants is through a catch-all Unpack stage. This stage sits within the Define → Unpack → Factory → Consume pipeline to ensure unanticipated failure modes are explicitly processed rather than crashing the application.

TypeScript API integration breaks without explicit Result patterns because errors lack structured typing. Implementing a factory stage with typed errors and discriminated responses enforces explicit handling of validation and network failures before data reaches the consumer.

No, the pipeline uses a gateway abstraction to decouple transport from data flow. This means you can wire the Define, Unpack, Factory, and Consume stages to any transport layer without hard dependencies on specific API client libraries.