diff --git a/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/discovery.ts b/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/discovery.ts
index b6b73114fa6..b13e6cee5ec 100644
--- a/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/discovery.ts
+++ b/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/discovery.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 import type { RuntimeEnv } from "../../api.js";
 import type { Foreigns } from "../urbit/foreigns.js";
-import { asRecord, formatChangesDate } from "./utils.js";
-
-function formatErrorMessage(error: unknown): string {
-  return error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
-}
+import { asRecord, formatChangesDate, formatErrorMessage } from "./utils.js";
 
 export async function fetchGroupChanges(
   api: { scry: (path: string) => Promise<unknown> },
diff --git a/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/history.ts b/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/history.ts
index cf926b24199..99902394300 100644
--- a/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/history.ts
+++ b/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/history.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
 import type { RuntimeEnv } from "../../api.js";
-import { asRecord, extractMessageText } from "./utils.js";
-
-function formatErrorMessage(error: unknown): string {
-  return error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
-}
+import { asRecord, extractMessageText, formatErrorMessage } from "./utils.js";
 
 /**
  * Format a number as @ud (with dots every 3 digits from the right)
diff --git a/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/index.ts b/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/index.ts
index b5f7bcf4e8b..6139c46be4a 100644
--- a/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/index.ts
+++ b/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/index.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import {
   mergeUniqueStrings,
   shouldMigrateTlonSetting,
 } from "./settings-helpers.js";
-import { asRecord } from "./utils.js";
+import { asRecord, formatErrorMessage } from "./utils.js";
 import {
   extractMessageText,
   formatModelName,
@@ -56,10 +56,6 @@ function readNumber(record: Record<string, unknown> | null, key: string): number
   return typeof value === "number" && Number.isFinite(value) ? value : undefined;
 }
 
-function formatErrorMessage(error: unknown): string {
-  return error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
-}
-
 export async function monitorTlonProvider(opts: MonitorTlonOpts = {}): Promise<void> {
   const core = getTlonRuntime();
   const cfg = core.config.loadConfig();
diff --git a/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/utils.ts b/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/utils.ts
index d8d2553a948..bce4b430253 100644
--- a/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/utils.ts
+++ b/extensions/tlon/src/monitor/utils.ts
@@ -185,6 +185,10 @@ export function asRecord(value: unknown): Record<string, unknown> | null {
   return value && typeof value === "object" ? (value as Record<string, unknown>) : null;
 }
 
+export function formatErrorMessage(error: unknown): string {
+  return error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
+}
+
 function readString(record: Record<string, unknown>, key: string): string | undefined {
   const value = record[key];
   return typeof value === "string" ? value : undefined;