Support serialization configuration

**Problem**
When working with lib, the error messages could be more descriptive.

**Suggestion**
Improve error handling and add detailed error messages.

**Context**
This would help with debugging and maintenance.

Start by locating the serialization-related code under lib and tracing its current error-handling paths. Determine which serialization configuration is intended and identify the existing error behavior before making changes. Done means the configuration is supported and failures produce detailed, useful messages; no test file is named in the issue.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.