diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index dfa33a9..0e375fa 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap_complete",
  "serde",
  "serde_yml",
+ "thiserror",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -261,6 +262,26 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-ident",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "thiserror"
+version = "2.0.12"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "567b8a2dae586314f7be2a752ec7474332959c6460e02bde30d702a66d488708"
+dependencies = [
+ "thiserror-impl",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "thiserror-impl"
+version = "2.0.12"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7f7cf42b4507d8ea322120659672cf1b9dbb93f8f2d4ecfd6e51350ff5b17a1d"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-ident"
 version = "1.0.18"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 88e1723..9bcae47 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ clap = { version = "4.5.38", features = ["derive"] }
 clap_complete = "*"
 serde = { version = "1.0.219", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_yml = "0.0.12"
+thiserror = "2.0.12"
 
 [build-dependencies]
 clap = "*"
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index eecaba5..899981f 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -1,19 +1,10 @@
-use std::fmt;
+use std::{io, path::PathBuf};
+use thiserror::Error;
 
-pub struct Error {
-    pub message: String,
-}
-
-// Implement std::fmt::Display for Error
-impl fmt::Display for Error {
-    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
-        write!(f, "{}", self.message) // user-facing output
-    }
-}
-
-// Implement std::fmt::Debug for Error
-impl fmt::Debug for Error {
-    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
-        write!(f, "Error message: {}\n{{ file: {}, line: {} }}", self.message, file!(), line!()) // programmer-facing output
-    }
+#[derive(Error, Debug)]
+pub enum Error {
+    #[error("DeserializationError: failed to deserialize {0}\n{1}")]
+    DeserializationError(PathBuf, serde_yml::Error),
+    #[error("IoError: {0}")]
+    IoError(#[from] io::Error),
 }
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 871c4b5..920d0fe 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -28,11 +28,9 @@ fn main() {
             config = conf;
         }
         Err(e) => {
-            println!("{}", e);
-            exit(1);
+            panic!("{}", e);
         }
     }
-    // = get_config_from_path(config_path);
 
     println!("{:?}", config);
 }
@@ -42,19 +40,12 @@ fn get_config_from_path(path: PathBuf) -> Result<Config, Error> {
         Ok(f) => match serde_yml::from_reader(f) {
             Ok(conf) => return Ok(conf),
             Err(e) => {
-                return Err(Error {
-                    message: format!(
-                        "*** Error deserializing config file ({:?}), it's likely deformed ***\n{}",
-                        path, e
-                    ),
-                });
+                return Err(Error::DeserializationError(path, e));
             }
         },
         Err(e) => {
             println!("");
-            return Err(Error {
-                message: format!("*** Error opening config file ({:?}) ***\n{}", path, e),
-            });
+            return Err(Error::IoError(e));
         }
     }
 }