---
title: error.js
description: API reference for the error.js special file.
url: "https://nextjs.org/docs/14/app/api-reference/file-conventions/error"
version: 14.2.35
lastUpdated: 2023-09-25
prerequisites:
- "API Reference: /docs/14/app/api-reference"
- "File Conventions: /docs/14/app/api-reference/file-conventions"
related:
- app/building-your-application/routing/error-handling
---
An **error** file defines an error UI boundary for a route segment.
It is useful for catching **unexpected** errors that occur in Server Components and Client Components and displaying a fallback UI.
```tsx filename="app/dashboard/error.tsx" switcher
'use client' // Error components must be Client Components
import { useEffect } from 'react'
export default function Error({
error,
reset,
}: {
error: Error & { digest?: string }
reset: () => void
}) {
useEffect(() => {
// Log the error to an error reporting service
console.error(error)
}, [error])
return (
Something went wrong!
)
}
```
```jsx filename="app/dashboard/error.js" switcher
'use client' // Error components must be Client Components
import { useEffect } from 'react'
export default function Error({ error, reset }) {
useEffect(() => {
// Log the error to an error reporting service
console.error(error)
}, [error])
return (
Something went wrong!
)
}
```
## Props
### `error`
An instance of an [`Error`](https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Error) object forwarded to the `error.js` Client Component.
#### `error.message`
The error message.
* For errors forwarded from Client Components, this will be the original Error's message.
* For errors forwarded from Server Components, this will be a generic error message to avoid leaking sensitive details. `errors.digest` can be used to match the corresponding error in server-side logs.
#### `error.digest`
An automatically generated hash of the error thrown in a Server Component. It can be used to match the corresponding error in server-side logs.
### `reset`
A function to reset the error boundary. When executed, the function will try to re-render the Error boundary's contents. If successful, the fallback error component is replaced with the result of the re-render.
Can be used to prompt the user to attempt to recover from the error.
> **Good to know**:
>
> * `error.js` boundaries must be **[Client Components](/docs/app/building-your-application/rendering/client-components)**.
> * In Production builds, errors forwarded from Server Components will be stripped of specific error details to avoid leaking sensitive information.
> * An `error.js` boundary will **not** handle errors thrown in a `layout.js` component in the **same** segment because the error boundary is nested **inside** that layouts component.
> * To handle errors for a specific layout, place an `error.js` file in the layouts parent segment.
> * To handle errors within the root layout or template, use a variation of `error.js` called `app/global-error.js`.
## `global-error.js`
To specifically handle errors in root `layout.js`, use a variation of `error.js` called `app/global-error.js` located in the root `app` directory.
```tsx filename="app/global-error.tsx" switcher
'use client'
export default function GlobalError({
error,
reset,
}: {
error: Error & { digest?: string }
reset: () => void
}) {
return (
)
}
```
> **Good to know**:
>
> * `global-error.js` replaces the root `layout.js` when active and so **must** define its own `` and `` tags.
> * While designing error UI, you may find it helpful to use the [React Developer Tools](https://react.dev/learn/react-developer-tools) to manually toggle Error boundaries.
## not-found.js
The [`not-found`](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/api-reference/file-conventions/not-found) file is used to render UI when the `notFound()` function is thrown within a route segment.
## Version History
| Version | Changes |
| --------- | -------------------------- |
| `v13.1.0` | `global-error` introduced. |
| `v13.0.0` | `error` introduced. |
## Learn more about error handling
---
For an index of all available documentation, see [/docs/14/llms.txt](/docs/14/llms.txt)