diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 5e85d7660..ff5bb5006 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4396,6 +4396,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "thiserror",
+ "tor-error",
  "typetag",
 ]
 
diff --git a/crates/tor-rpccmd/Cargo.toml b/crates/tor-rpccmd/Cargo.toml
index 291c1b277..4407b373c 100644
--- a/crates/tor-rpccmd/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/tor-rpccmd/Cargo.toml
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ once_cell = "1"
 paste = "1"
 serde = { version = "1.0.103", features = ["derive"] }
 thiserror = "1"
+tor-error = { path = "../tor-error/", version = "0.4.1" }
 typetag = "0.2.7"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
diff --git a/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/dispatch.rs b/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/dispatch.rs
index 910735bfe..53d5dc3f8 100644
--- a/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/dispatch.rs
+++ b/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/dispatch.rs
@@ -11,14 +11,11 @@ use futures::future::BoxFuture;
 use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
 
 use crate::typeid::ConstTypeId_;
-use crate::{Command, Context, Object};
+use crate::{Command, Context, Object, RpcError};
 
 /// The return type from an RPC function.
 #[doc(hidden)]
-pub type RpcResult = Result<
-    Box<dyn erased_serde::Serialize + Send + 'static>,
-    Box<dyn erased_serde::Serialize + Send + 'static>,
->;
+pub type RpcResult = Result<Box<dyn erased_serde::Serialize + Send + 'static>, RpcError>;
 
 // A boxed future holding the result of an RPC command.
 type RpcResultFuture = BoxFuture<'static, RpcResult>;
@@ -81,8 +78,7 @@ impl InvokeEntry_ {
 /// }
 ///
 /// rpc::rpc_invoke_fn!{
-///     // XXXX wrong error type.
-///
+
 ///     // Note that the return type of this function must be a Result, and must be
 ///     // `Serialize + Send + 'static`.
 ///     async fn example(obj: ExampleObject, cmd: ExampleCommand, ctx) -> Result<ExampleResult, String> {
@@ -129,7 +125,7 @@ macro_rules! rpc_invoke_fn {
             $name(obj, cmd, ctx).map(|r| {
                 let r: $crate::RpcResult = match r {
                     Ok(v) => Ok(Box::new(v)),
-                    Err(e) => Err(Box::new(e))
+                    Err(e) => Err($crate::RpcError::from(e))
                 };
                 r
             }).boxed()
@@ -227,7 +223,7 @@ mod test {
 
     rpc_invoke_fn! {
         /// Hello there
-        async fn invoke(_obj: Animal, cmd: SayHi, _ctx) -> Result<Hello, String> {
+        async fn invoke(_obj: Animal, cmd: SayHi, _ctx) -> Result<Hello, crate::RpcError> {
             Ok(Hello{ name: format!("{:?}", cmd) })
         }
     }
diff --git a/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/err.rs b/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/err.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..657cf7f5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/err.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+//! Error-related functionality for RPC functions.
+
+/// An error type returned by failing RPC commands.
+#[derive(serde::Serialize)]
+pub struct RpcError {
+    /// A human-readable message.
+    message: String,
+    /// An error code inspired by json-rpc.
+    code: i32,
+    /// The ErrorKind of this error.
+    #[serde(serialize_with = "ser_kind")]
+    kind: tor_error::ErrorKind,
+    /// An underlying serializable object, if any, to be sent along with the
+    /// error.
+    data: Option<Box<dyn erased_serde::Serialize + Send>>,
+}
+
+impl<T> From<T> for RpcError
+where
+    T: std::error::Error + tor_error::HasKind + serde::Serialize + Send + 'static,
+{
+    fn from(value: T) -> Self {
+        let message = value.to_string();
+        let code = -12345; // TODO RPC: this is wrong.
+        let kind = value.kind();
+        let boxed: Box<dyn erased_serde::Serialize + Send> = Box::new(value);
+        let data = Some(boxed);
+        RpcError {
+            message,
+            code,
+            kind,
+            data,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+fn ser_kind<S: serde::Serializer>(kind: &tor_error::ErrorKind, s: S) -> Result<S::Ok, S::Error> {
+    // TODO RPC: this format is wrong and temporary.
+    s.serialize_str(&format!("{:?}", kind))
+}
+
+impl std::fmt::Debug for RpcError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("RpcError")
+            .field("message", &self.message)
+            .field("code", &self.code)
+            .field("kind", &self.kind)
+            .field("data", &self.data.as_ref().map(|_| "..."))
+            .finish()
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/lib.rs b/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/lib.rs
index 667f49af1..001edd912 100644
--- a/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/tor-rpccmd/src/lib.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 mod cmd;
 pub mod dispatch;
+mod err;
 mod obj;
 #[doc(hidden)]
 pub mod typeid;
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 
 pub use cmd::Command;
 pub use dispatch::invoke_command;
+pub use err::RpcError;
 pub use obj::{Object, ObjectId};
 
 #[doc(hidden)]