oxidecomputer / oxidecomputer/console

Better copy on 403 than "Action not authorized"

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#1,799 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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polish
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
228
Forks
22
Avg merge
19h 42m
Merged PRs (30d)
32

Description

If someone tries to, e.g., delete a silo image when they don't have permission to do so, they will get a toast that says

Could not delete resource
Action not authorized

https://github.com/oxidecomputer/console/blob/992fb1e118415a66519f4d04b8004506668d3094/libs/api/errors.ts#L56-L57

I think we could come up with something better here that conveys that this is about the user themselves not having the appropriate permission to do the thing. Arguably that's what "Action not authorized" means, but I don't think it's obvious enough. "Authorized" as we're using it is a technical term meaning a permission check.

Alternatives
  • You don't have permission

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in libs/api/errors.ts at lines 56-57 and inspect how the 403 error text is used for actions such as deleting a silo image. Choose clearer wording that makes the user's missing permission explicit, then verify the resulting toast shows the revised message instead of "Action not authorized".

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
1/5
Estimated time
Under an hour
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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