From 3e527cf6bbb17f2dd349567286928aef241d5b9c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tian Pan <puncsky@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2026 17:46:10 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix: show wrapped error detail when a user-facing message is
 empty

---
 pkg/tui/error.go                |  3 ++
 pkg/tui/error_test.go           | 81 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 pkg/tui/views/execerror_test.go | 27 +++++++++++
 3 files changed, 111 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 pkg/tui/error_test.go
 create mode 100644 pkg/tui/views/execerror_test.go

diff --git a/pkg/tui/error.go b/pkg/tui/error.go
index 15865d26..e596f966 100644
--- a/pkg/tui/error.go
+++ b/pkg/tui/error.go
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ func (m *ErrorModel) View() string {
 	if errors.As(m.Err, userFacingError) {
 		title = userFacingError.Title
 		message = userFacingError.Message
+		if message == "" && userFacingError.Err != nil {
+			message = userFacingError.Err.Error()
+		}
 	} else {
 		message = m.Err.Error()
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/tui/error_test.go b/pkg/tui/error_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..36debc2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/tui/error_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+package tui_test
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os/exec"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/render-oss/cli/pkg/tui"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func renderErrorView(err error) string {
+	m := tui.NewErrorModel(err)
+	m.Update(tui.StackSizeMsg{Width: 120, Height: 20})
+	return m.View()
+}
+
+func TestErrorModelView(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("wrapped user facing error without message shows underlying error", func(t *testing.T) {
+		view := renderErrorView(tui.UserFacingError{
+			Title: "An error occurred while running kv-cli",
+			Err:   errors.New("exit status 1"),
+		})
+		require.Contains(t, view, "An error occurred while running kv-cli")
+		require.Contains(t, view, "exit status 1")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("child process exit error is shown", func(t *testing.T) {
+		falsePath, err := exec.LookPath("false")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Skip("false not available")
+		}
+		runErr := exec.Command(falsePath).Run()
+		var exitErr *exec.ExitError
+		require.ErrorAs(t, runErr, &exitErr)
+
+		view := renderErrorView(tui.UserFacingError{
+			Title: "An error occurred while running psql",
+			Err:   runErr,
+		})
+		require.Contains(t, view, "An error occurred while running psql")
+		require.Contains(t, view, runErr.Error())
+	})
+
+	t.Run("user facing error nested in another error shows underlying error", func(t *testing.T) {
+		view := renderErrorView(fmt.Errorf("context: %w", tui.UserFacingError{
+			Title: "An error occurred while running pgcli",
+			Err:   errors.New("exit status 2"),
+		}))
+		require.Contains(t, view, "An error occurred while running pgcli")
+		require.Contains(t, view, "exit status 2")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("explicit message takes precedence over underlying error", func(t *testing.T) {
+		view := renderErrorView(tui.UserFacingError{
+			Title:   "Failed to SSH",
+			Message: "explicit message",
+			Err:     errors.New("hidden underlying error"),
+		})
+		require.Contains(t, view, "Failed to SSH")
+		require.Contains(t, view, "explicit message")
+		require.NotContains(t, view, "hidden underlying error")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("title only error shows title", func(t *testing.T) {
+		view := renderErrorView(tui.UserFacingError{Title: "only a title"})
+		require.Contains(t, view, "only a title")
+		require.NotContains(t, view, "unknown error")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("message only error shows message", func(t *testing.T) {
+		view := renderErrorView(tui.UserFacingError{Message: "No Key Value named 'x'."})
+		require.Contains(t, view, "No Key Value named 'x'.")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("ordinary error shows error string", func(t *testing.T) {
+		view := renderErrorView(errors.New("plain failure"))
+		require.Contains(t, view, "plain failure")
+	})
+}
diff --git a/pkg/tui/views/execerror_test.go b/pkg/tui/views/execerror_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..54635f6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/tui/views/execerror_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+package views
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/render-oss/cli/pkg/tui"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestDatastoreExecErrorsShowUnderlyingError(t *testing.T) {
+	childErr := errors.New("exit status 1")
+
+	for name, wrapped := range map[string]error{
+		"kv-cli": handleRedisCLIError(childErr),
+		"psql":   handlePSQLError(PSQL)(childErr),
+		"pgcli":  handlePSQLError(PGCLI)(childErr),
+	} {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			m := tui.NewErrorModel(wrapped)
+			m.Update(tui.StackSizeMsg{Width: 120, Height: 20})
+			view := m.View()
+			require.Contains(t, view, "An error occurred while running "+name)
+			require.Contains(t, view, "exit status 1")
+		})
+	}
+}