diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e5888da..4688981 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 .idea/*
 .nyc_output
+.env
 build
 node_modules
 test
@@ -13,3 +14,4 @@ src/openapi/.gitignore
 src/openapi/.npmignore
 src/openapi/.openapi-generator-ignore
 src/openapi/git_push.sh
+
diff --git a/src/api/base.ts b/src/api/base.ts
index 4266192..5e94cdd 100644
--- a/src/api/base.ts
+++ b/src/api/base.ts
@@ -7,11 +7,26 @@ import { BASE_PATH } from '../openapi/base';
 
 import { API_ACCESS_LEVELS, ApiContextLevel, ApiKeyLevel, PermitContextError } from './context';
 
+interface FormattedAxiosError {
+  code: string | undefined;
+  message: string;
+  error: any;
+  status: number | undefined;
+}
 export class PermitApiError<T> extends Error {
   constructor(message: string, public originalError: AxiosError<T>) {
     super(message);
   }
 
+  public get formattedAxiosError(): FormattedAxiosError {
+    return {
+      code: this.originalError.code,
+      message: this.message,
+      error: this.originalError.response?.data,
+      status: this.originalError.status,
+    };
+  }
+
   public get request(): any {
     return this.originalError.request;
   }
@@ -165,11 +180,14 @@ export abstract class BasePermitApi {
   protected handleApiError(err: unknown): never {
     if (axios.isAxiosError(err)) {
       // this is an http response with an error status code
-      const message = `Got error status code: ${err.response?.status}`;
+      const logMessage = `Got error status code: ${err.response?.status}, err: ${JSON.stringify(
+        err?.response?.data,
+      )}`;
+      const apiMessage = err.response?.data.message;
       // log this to the SDK logger
-      this.logger.error(`${message}, err: ${JSON.stringify(err?.response?.data)}`);
+      this.logger.error(logMessage);
       // and throw a permit error exception
-      throw new PermitApiError(message, err);
+      throw new PermitApiError(apiMessage, err);
     } else {
       // unexpected error, just throw
       throw err;