diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7691e808..4ae1f1eb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+## 1.8.5
+
+- refactor(api):
+  - 🔨 improve payload handling in resolveBody and resolveBodySync
+  - 🔨 `UNAUTHORIZED`, `BAD_REQUEST`: Allow `error` as `payload` in response generation.
+
+- swiss_knife: ^3.2.3
+- yaml: ^3.1.3
+- stream_channel: ^2.1.3
+
 ## 1.8.4
 
 - `APIRoot`:
diff --git a/lib/src/bones_api_base.dart b/lib/src/bones_api_base.dart
index 8ed97979..778889c9 100644
--- a/lib/src/bones_api_base.dart
+++ b/lib/src/bones_api_base.dart
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ typedef APILogger = void Function(APIRoot apiRoot, String type, String? message,
 /// Bones API Library class.
 class BonesAPI {
   // ignore: constant_identifier_names
-  static const String VERSION = '1.8.4';
+  static const String VERSION = '1.8.5';
 
   static bool _boot = false;
 
@@ -2798,12 +2798,14 @@ class APIResponse<T> extends APIMetricSet with APIPayload {
       T? payload,
       Object? payloadDynamic,
       Object? mimeType,
+      Object? error,
       Map<String, APIMetric>? metrics}) {
     return APIResponse(APIResponseStatus.UNAUTHORIZED,
         headers: headers ?? <String, dynamic>{},
         payload: payload,
         payloadDynamic: payloadDynamic,
         payloadMimeType: mimeType,
+        error: error,
         metrics: metrics);
   }
 
@@ -2876,12 +2878,14 @@ class APIResponse<T> extends APIMetricSet with APIPayload {
       T? payload,
       Object? payloadDynamic,
       Object? mimeType,
+      Object? error,
       Map<String, APIMetric>? metrics}) {
     return APIResponse(APIResponseStatus.BAD_REQUEST,
         headers: headers ?? <String, dynamic>{},
         payload: payload,
         payloadDynamic: payloadDynamic,
         payloadMimeType: mimeType,
+        error: error,
         metrics: metrics);
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/src/bones_api_server.dart b/lib/src/bones_api_server.dart
index fc14e609..9e42798c 100644
--- a/lib/src/bones_api_server.dart
+++ b/lib/src/bones_api_server.dart
@@ -1373,12 +1373,13 @@ class APIServer extends _APIServerBase {
   /// Resolves a [payload] to an HTTP body (accepts [payload] as a [Future]).
   /// See [resolveBodySync].
   static FutureOr<Object?> resolveBody(
-      dynamic payload, APIResponse apiResponse) {
+      Object? payload, APIResponse apiResponse) {
     if (payload == null) return null;
 
     if (payload is Future) {
       return payload.then((value) {
-        return resolveBody(value, apiResponse);
+        if (value == null) return null;
+        return _resolveBodyImpl(value, apiResponse);
       }, onError: (e, s) {
         return apiResponse.asError(error: 'ERROR: $e\n$s');
       });
@@ -1389,7 +1390,7 @@ class APIServer extends _APIServerBase {
 
   /// Resolves a [payload] to an HTTP body (Does NOT accept [payload] as a [Future]).
   /// See [resolveBody].
-  static Object? resolveBodySync(dynamic payload, APIResponse apiResponse) {
+  static Object? resolveBodySync(Object? payload, APIResponse apiResponse) {
     if (payload == null) return null;
 
     if (payload is Future) {
@@ -2460,9 +2461,11 @@ final class APIServerWorker extends _APIServerBase {
               headers.getAsString('WWW-Authenticate', ignoreCase: true);
 
           if (wwwAuthenticate != null && wwwAuthenticate.isNotEmpty) {
-            return Response(401, body: payload, headers: headers);
+            return Response(401,
+                body: payload ?? apiResponse.error, headers: headers);
           } else {
-            return Response.forbidden(payload, headers: headers);
+            return Response.forbidden(payload ?? apiResponse.error,
+                headers: headers);
           }
         }
       case APIResponseStatus.REDIRECT:
@@ -2481,7 +2484,8 @@ final class APIServerWorker extends _APIServerBase {
           return Response(307, body: body, headers: headers);
         }
       case APIResponseStatus.BAD_REQUEST:
-        return Response(400, body: payload, headers: headers);
+        return Response(400,
+            body: payload ?? apiResponse.error, headers: headers);
       case APIResponseStatus.ERROR:
         {
           var error = apiResponse.error ?? '';
diff --git a/pubspec.yaml b/pubspec.yaml
index bf7b1bcb..0310116b 100644
--- a/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/pubspec.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name: bones_api
 description: Bones_API - A powerful API backend framework for Dart. It comes with a built-in HTTP Server, route handler, entity handler, SQL translator, and DB adapters.
-version: 1.8.4
+version: 1.8.5
 homepage: https://github.com/Colossus-Services/bones_api
 
 environment:
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ dependencies:
   async_events: ^1.2.0
   reflection_factory: ^2.4.8
   statistics: ^1.1.3
-  swiss_knife: ^3.2.2
+  swiss_knife: ^3.2.3
   data_serializer: ^1.2.1
   shared_map: ^1.1.9
   graph_explorer: ^1.0.2
@@ -41,11 +41,11 @@ dependencies:
   postgres: ^2.6.4
   mysql1: ^0.20.0
   gcloud: ^0.8.18
-  yaml: ^3.1.2
+  yaml: ^3.1.3
   crypto: ^3.0.6
   path: ^1.9.1
   archive: ^3.6.1
-  stream_channel: ^2.1.2
+  stream_channel: ^2.1.3
   http: ^1.2.2
   googleapis_auth: ^1.6.0
   crclib: ^3.0.0