catcherinterceptor

CatchERinterceptor is a software construct used in request-processing pipelines to centralize error handling by catching exceptions or error signals thrown by downstream handlers. It is commonly implemented as an interceptor or middleware that sits in the invocation chain and wraps the execution of subsequent components.

Its primary purpose is to provide consistent error responses, centralized logging, and the ability to apply error-handling policies such as translating internal exceptions into standardized error payloads, setting appropriate status codes, or triggering alerts. By handling errors in one place, it helps decouple error management from business logic and ensures uniform behavior across different parts of the system.

Placement and usage vary by platform. In HTTP servers it is often registered as middleware; in RPC frameworks such as gRPC it appears as an interceptor; in pipeline-based or aspect-oriented systems it acts as a cross-cutting component. Typical behavior includes wrapping downstream calls in a protected block, propagating successful results, and, when an exception occurs, mapping the error to a user-facing response, logging with context, and applying a policy that may rethrow, translate, or swallow the error.

Features commonly associated with catcherinterceptors include configurable exception filters, status-code or error-code mapping, structured error payloads, privacy controls to avoid leaking sensitive data, and hooks for observability such as correlation identifiers and metrics. Considerations include potential obscuring of original stack traces, performance impact, and the need to balance helpful diagnostics with security.

See also: middleware, error handling, interceptors, AOP, exception management, RPC interceptors.