diff --git a/api/chalicelib/utils/errors_helper.py b/api/chalicelib/utils/errors_helper.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..73a430110
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/chalicelib/utils/errors_helper.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from chalicelib.core import sourcemaps
+
+
+def format_first_stack_frame(error):
+    error["stack"] = sourcemaps.format_payload(error.pop("payload"), truncate_to_first=True)
+    for s in error["stack"]:
+        for c in s.get("context", []):
+            for sci, sc in enumerate(c):
+                if isinstance(sc, str) and len(sc) > 1000:
+                    c[sci] = sc[:1000]
+        # convert bytes to string:
+        if isinstance(s["filename"], bytes):
+            s["filename"] = s["filename"].decode("utf-8")
+    return error