> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://invoca-5bd45748-mintlify-6c3474a6.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Error messages

> How to write a message when something goes wrong: immediate, close to the source, and solution-oriented.

## The core rule

**"Help me help you."** An error message's entire job is stated in that line — it exists to
get the reader unstuck, not to report a failure for its own sake.

* Help the reader become aware of the error as soon as possible.
* Display the error message as close to its source as possible.
* Provide a message that helps the reader solve the problem.
* Use sentence case for all messaging.

## Sentence case, confirmed

The source states this plainly: **"Use sentence-case for all messaging."** This is the first
directly confirmed casing rule this documentation has for any content type, and it anchors the
per-context model on [Capitalization and punctuation](/invoca-design-system/content/capitalization-and-punctuation)
— error messages are sentence case, in contrast to
[Button labels'](/invoca-design-system/components/actions/button#constraints) title case.

## Constraints

| ID               | Constraint                                                                               | Rationale                                                                                                                                                                               |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **TITAN-ERR-01** | An error is surfaced to the reader as soon as it is known, not deferred to a later step. | A reader who has already moved on has to backtrack to fix something that could have been caught immediately.                                                                            |
| **TITAN-ERR-02** | An error message renders as close to its source as the composition allows.               | A reader should not have to search the screen to connect a message to the thing it's about.                                                                                             |
| **TITAN-ERR-03** | Error message content states how to resolve the problem, not only that a problem exists. | "Invalid" tells the reader something is wrong and nothing about what to do next — the same reasoning as [TITAN-FLD-04](/invoca-design-system/components/forms/field-label#constraints). |
| **TITAN-ERR-04** | Error messaging is sentence case.                                                        | Directly stated in source.                                                                                                                                                              |

## Gaps in the current rules

<Card title="Error messages: open issues" icon="triangle-exclamation" href="/invoca-design-system/content/error-messages/open-issues">
  Divergences, open decisions, and undocumented gaps for Error messages.
</Card>

## Why it works this way

**Proximity and solution-orientation both serve the same goal: minimizing the distance between
noticing a problem and fixing it.** A message far from its source, or one that states a
failure without a next step, both leave the reader to do work the message could have done for
them — which is the literal meaning of "help me help you."