diff --git a/scripts/request-server.js b/scripts/request-server.js
index 3e0ead6..bb0cb3c 100644
--- a/scripts/request-server.js
+++ b/scripts/request-server.js
@@ -43,8 +43,7 @@ async function info(id, novelPath) {
   infoRunning++;
   try {
     const { code, out, err } = await run('novel-info.js', [id, novelPath]);
-    if (code !== 0)
-      throw new Error(err.trim().split('\n').pop() || `exit ${code}`);
+    if (code !== 0) throw new Error(errorLine(err, code));
     const result = JSON.parse(out.trim().split('\n').pop());
     infos.set(cacheKey, { at: Date.now(), info: result });
     return result;
@@ -72,6 +71,14 @@ function run(script, args) {
   });
 }
 
+// Node ends a crash with its version line; report the line that names the error.
+function errorLine(err, code) {
+  const lines = err.trim().split('\n').filter(Boolean);
+  return (lines.findLast(l => /error/i.test(l)) || lines[0] || `exit ${code}`)
+    .trim()
+    .slice(0, 200);
+}
+
 const safeName = s => s.replace(/[/\\:*?"<>|]/g, '-').trim();
 
 // One folder per series, named after the book: Kavita groups by folder.
@@ -101,7 +108,7 @@ async function work() {
     ]);
     const file = out.trim().split('\n').pop();
     if (code !== 0 || !file || !fs.existsSync(file)) {
-      throw new Error(err.trim().split('\n').pop() || `exit ${code}`);
+      throw new Error(errorLine(err, code));
     }
     job.progress = err.trim().split('\n')[0] || '';
     job.title = place(file);
@@ -171,8 +178,7 @@ http
         if (hit && Date.now() - hit.at < FIND_TTL_MS)
           return send(res, 200, hit.results);
         const { code, out, err } = await run('find-novel.js', ['--json', q]);
-        if (code !== 0)
-          return send(res, 502, { error: err.trim().split('\n').pop() });
+        if (code !== 0) return send(res, 502, { error: errorLine(err, code) });
         const results = JSON.parse(out.trim().split('\n').pop() || '[]');
         found.set(q.toLowerCase(), { at: Date.now(), results });
         return send(res, 200, results);