diff --git a/browse/src/error-handling.ts b/browse/src/error-handling.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..890b3afd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/browse/src/error-handling.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/**
+ * Shared error-handling utilities for browse server and CLI.
+ *
+ * Each wrapper uses selective catches (checks err.code) to avoid masking
+ * unexpected errors. Empty catches would be flagged by slop-scan.
+ */
+
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+
+const IS_WINDOWS = process.platform === 'win32';
+
+// ─── Filesystem ────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/** Remove a file, ignoring ENOENT (already gone). Rethrows other errors. */
+export function safeUnlink(filePath: string): void {
+  try {
+    fs.unlinkSync(filePath);
+  } catch (err: any) {
+    if (err?.code !== 'ENOENT') throw err;
+  }
+}
+
+// ─── Process ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/** Send a signal to a process, ignoring ESRCH (already dead). Rethrows other errors. */
+export function safeKill(pid: number, signal: NodeJS.Signals | number): void {
+  try {
+    process.kill(pid, signal);
+  } catch (err: any) {
+    if (err?.code !== 'ESRCH') throw err;
+  }
+}
+
+/** Check if a PID is alive. Returns false for ESRCH, rethrows EPERM and others. */
+export function isProcessAlive(pid: number): boolean {
+  if (IS_WINDOWS) {
+    // Bun's compiled binary can't signal Windows PIDs (always throws ESRCH).
+    // Use tasklist as a fallback. Only for one-shot calls — too slow for polling loops.
+    // Bun.spawnSync may throw if tasklist binary is missing (ENOENT)
+    const result = Bun.spawnSync(
+      ['tasklist', '/FI', `PID eq ${pid}`, '/NH', '/FO', 'CSV'],
+      { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe', timeout: 3000 }
+    );
+    return result.stdout.toString().includes(`"${pid}"`);
+  }
+  try {
+    process.kill(pid, 0);
+    return true;
+  } catch (err: any) {
+    if (err?.code === 'ESRCH') return false;
+    throw err;
+  }
+}
+
+// ─── HTTP ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/** JSON Response constructor shorthand for Bun.serve routes. */
+export function json(data: unknown, status = 200): Response {
+  return new Response(JSON.stringify(data), {
+    status,
+    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+  });
+}
diff --git a/browse/test/error-handling.test.ts b/browse/test/error-handling.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dc6a7429
--- /dev/null
+++ b/browse/test/error-handling.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as os from 'os';
+import * as path from 'path';
+import { safeUnlink, safeKill, isProcessAlive, json } from '../src/error-handling';
+
+describe('safeUnlink', () => {
+  test('removes an existing file', () => {
+    const tmp = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `test-safeUnlink-${Date.now()}`);
+    fs.writeFileSync(tmp, 'hello');
+    safeUnlink(tmp);
+    expect(fs.existsSync(tmp)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  test('ignores ENOENT (file does not exist)', () => {
+    expect(() => safeUnlink('/tmp/nonexistent-file-' + Date.now())).not.toThrow();
+  });
+
+  test('rethrows non-ENOENT errors', () => {
+    // Attempt to unlink a directory — throws EPERM/EISDIR
+    const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'test-safeUnlink-'));
+    expect(() => safeUnlink(dir)).toThrow();
+    fs.rmdirSync(dir);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('safeKill', () => {
+  test('sends signal to a running process', () => {
+    // signal 0 is a no-op existence check — safe to send to self
+    expect(() => safeKill(process.pid, 0)).not.toThrow();
+  });
+
+  test('ignores ESRCH (process does not exist)', () => {
+    // PID 99999999 is extremely unlikely to exist
+    expect(() => safeKill(99999999, 0)).not.toThrow();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('isProcessAlive', () => {
+  test('returns true for current process', () => {
+    expect(isProcessAlive(process.pid)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test('returns false for non-existent process', () => {
+    expect(isProcessAlive(99999999)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('json', () => {
+  test('returns Response with JSON body and correct Content-Type', async () => {
+    const resp = json({ ok: true });
+    expect(resp.status).toBe(200);
+    expect(resp.headers.get('Content-Type')).toBe('application/json');
+    const body = await resp.json();
+    expect(body).toEqual({ ok: true });
+  });
+
+  test('uses custom status code', async () => {
+    const resp = json({ error: 'not found' }, 404);
+    expect(resp.status).toBe(404);
+    const body = await resp.json();
+    expect(body).toEqual({ error: 'not found' });
+  });
+});