Effective error handling requires a proactive strategy, not an afterthought. Decide on your error approach before coding, focusing on error shapes, ownership, and surfacing. Error handling can be divided into three distinct layers: detection, propagation, and presentation. Mixing these layers within a single function leads to complexity and unreliability. Exceptions are suitable for truly unexpected events, while result objects clearly signal predictable failures. A common result pattern involves returning a structured object indicating success or failure with associated data. When errors propagate, wrap them with contextual information to aid debugging rather than generic messages. Bare catch blocks that swallow errors are detrimental, masking underlying problems. Centralize error handling at application boundaries, like middleware, to manage responses consistently. Avoid deeply nested try-catch blocks, preferring to extract functions or use patterns that flatten control flow. Thoroughly test error paths by simulating failure conditions to ensure robustness. Ultimately, maintain simplicity by being explicit, adding context, centralizing, and testing error flows.