From 8e72b7e0bcaac1065bbd551abf1aca6127c1db21 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Abhimanyu Saharan <asaharan@onemindservices.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2026 20:10:30 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] feat(error_handling): improve error payload serialization for
 JSON compatibility

---
 backend/app/core/error_handling.py   | 17 ++++++++++++++++-
 backend/tests/test_error_handling.py | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/backend/app/core/error_handling.py b/backend/app/core/error_handling.py
index e2c0890f..24309cc8 100644
--- a/backend/app/core/error_handling.py
+++ b/backend/app/core/error_handling.py
@@ -224,12 +224,27 @@ def _get_request_id(request: Request) -> str | None:
 
 
 def _error_payload(*, detail: object, request_id: str | None) -> dict[str, object]:
-    payload: dict[str, Any] = {"detail": detail}
+    payload: dict[str, Any] = {"detail": _json_safe(detail)}
     if request_id:
         payload["request_id"] = request_id
     return payload
 
 
+def _json_safe(value: object) -> object:
+    """Return a JSON-serializable representation for error payloads."""
+    if isinstance(value, bytes):
+        return value.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
+    if isinstance(value, (bytearray, memoryview)):
+        return bytes(value).decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
+    if isinstance(value, dict):
+        return {str(key): _json_safe(item) for key, item in value.items()}
+    if isinstance(value, (list, tuple, set)):
+        return [_json_safe(item) for item in value]
+    if value is None or isinstance(value, (str, int, float, bool)):
+        return value
+    return str(value)
+
+
 async def _request_validation_handler(
     request: Request,
     exc: RequestValidationError,
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_error_handling.py b/backend/tests/test_error_handling.py
index 3f922101..d8f1f5ac 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_error_handling.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_error_handling.py
@@ -38,6 +38,31 @@ def test_request_validation_error_includes_request_id():
     assert resp.headers.get(REQUEST_ID_HEADER) == body["request_id"]
 
 
+def test_request_validation_error_handles_bytes_input_without_500():
+    class Payload(BaseModel):
+        content: str
+
+    app = FastAPI()
+    install_error_handling(app)
+
+    @app.put("/needs-object")
+    def needs_object(payload: Payload) -> dict[str, str]:
+        return {"content": payload.content}
+
+    client = TestClient(app, raise_server_exceptions=False)
+    resp = client.put(
+        "/needs-object",
+        content=b"plain-text-body",
+        headers={"content-type": "text/plain"},
+    )
+
+    assert resp.status_code == 422
+    body = resp.json()
+    assert isinstance(body.get("detail"), list)
+    assert isinstance(body.get("request_id"), str) and body["request_id"]
+    assert resp.headers.get(REQUEST_ID_HEADER) == body["request_id"]
+
+
 def test_http_exception_includes_request_id():
     app = FastAPI()
     install_error_handling(app)