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Flask error handler that catches internal server errors (HTTP 500), logs them, and returns a standardized JSON error response.

Purpose

This function serves as a centralized error handler for all unhandled exceptions in a Flask application. It is registered as an error handler for HTTP 500 errors using the @app.errorhandler(500) decorator. When any unhandled exception occurs during request processing, this function logs the error details and returns a user-friendly JSON response to the client, preventing sensitive error information from being exposed while maintaining proper error tracking through logging.

Source Code

def internal_error(error):
    logger.error(f"Internal error: {error}")
    return jsonify({'error': 'Internal server error'}), 500

Parameters

Parameter Details

error: The exception object or error information passed by Flask when an internal server error occurs. This can be any Exception instance or error details that caused the 500 error. Flask automatically passes this parameter when the error handler is invoked.

Return Value

Returns a tuple containing: (1) a JSON response object with a dictionary containing an 'error' key with the value 'Internal server error', and (2) the HTTP status code 500. The JSON response format is {'error': 'Internal server error'} which provides a generic error message to clients without exposing internal implementation details.

Dependencies

• flask
• logging

Required Imports

from flask import Flask
from flask import jsonify
import logging

Usage Example

from flask import Flask, jsonify
import logging

app = Flask(__name__)
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.ERROR)

@app.errorhandler(500)
def internal_error(error):
    logger.error(f"Internal error: {error}")
    return jsonify({'error': 'Internal server error'}), 500

@app.route('/test')
def test_route():
    # This will trigger the error handler
    raise Exception('Something went wrong')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run()

Best Practices

• Always configure logging before using this error handler to ensure errors are properly recorded
• This handler returns a generic error message to prevent exposing sensitive internal details to clients
• The error parameter should be logged but not returned directly to the client for security reasons
• Consider adding additional error context to logs (like request path, user ID, timestamp) for better debugging
• In production, ensure logger is configured to write to persistent storage (files, external logging services)
• This handler should be registered after the Flask app is created but before the app starts running
• Consider implementing different error handlers for different error types (404, 403, etc.) for better error management
• The generic error message can be customized based on environment (more details in development, generic in production)

Tags

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