In what format is it best to return an error in REST - json

Question

What format should I return the response to the API user if an error occurred? Just return the response as a status code and error message:
Full authentication is required to access this resource
(the status 401 was returned)
Or it is better to return it in this format:
{
"timestamp": "2020-06-14T21:20:52.941+0000",
"status": 401,
"error": "Unauthorized",
"message": "Full authentication is required to access this resource",
"path": "/api/users/me"
}

Answer 1

Well, it depends:
If you know your front end urgently requires the direct message of the error, ignoring anything else, then going for the short and direct to the point answer might be your best choice.
But honestly, if experience in programming has taught me anything, is that the more information you have about something, the better, ESPECIALLY IF IT'S an ERROR!!! With the longer response, you have many more tools in you hand, both for giving the final user a better look of your application - You can present for the user a small title, a detailed message and, for example, use an internal code to show a red "error" box if a fatal error ocurred or a "warning" yellow box if a validation simply failed - and especially for the dev to solve that problem (The final user might never see the "timestamp", "status", "path" or stacktrace of the error - He shouldn't... - But it will surely help you track what caused the error).
Take a look at these (1, 2 and 3) articles to help you decide your situation and, if needed, customize your error response structure